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Title: The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2 Author: Marco Polo da Pisa Rusticiano Editor: Henri Cordier Translator: Sir Henry Yule Release date: May 1, 2004 [eBook #12410] Most recently updated: September 20, 2022 Language: English *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO — VOLUME 2 *** [Illustration: “MARCVS POLVS VENETVS TOTIVS ORBIS ET INDIE PEREGRATOR PRIMUS.” Copied by permission from a painting bearing the above inscription in the Gallery of Monsignore BADIA in Rome.] THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO THE COMPLETE YULE-CORDIER EDITION Including the unabridged third edition (1903) of Henry Yule’s annotated translation, as revised by Henri Cordier; together with Cordier’s later volume of notes and addenda (1920) IN TWO VOLUMES VOLUME II _Containing the second volume of the 1903 edition and the 1920 volume of addenda (two original volumes bound as one)_ CONTENTS OF VOL. II. PAGE SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS iii EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvi THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO APPENDICES 503 INDEX 607 SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. BOOK SECOND—(_Continued_). PART II. _Journey to the West and South-West of Cathay._ CHAP. PAGE XXXV.—HERE BEGINS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR OF CATHAY; AND FIRST OF THE RIVER PULISANGHIN 3 NOTES.—1. _Marco’s Route._ 2. _The Bridge Pul-i-sangin, or Lu-ku-k’iao._ XXXVI.—ACCOUNT OF THE CITY OF JUJU 10 NOTES.—1. _The Silks called |Sendals|._ 2. _Chochau._ 3. _Bifurcation of Two Great Roads at this point._ XXXVII.—THE KINGDOM OF TAIANFU 12 NOTES.—1. _Acbaluc._ 2. _T’ai-yuan fu._ 3. _Grape-wine of that place._ 4. _P’ing-yang fu._ XXXVIII.—CONCERNING THE CASTLE OF CAICHU. THE GOLDEN KING AND PRESTER JOHN 17 NOTES.—1. _The Story and Portrait of the |Roi d’Or|._ 2. _Effeminacy reviving in every Chinese Dynasty._ XXXIX.—HOW PRESTER JOHN TREATED THE GOLDEN KING HIS PRISONER 21 XL.—CONCERNING THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN AND THE CITY OF CACHANFU 22 NOTES.—1. _The Kará Muren._ 2. _Former growth of silk in Shan-si and Shen-si._ 3. _The |akché| or |asper|._ XLI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF KENJANFU 24 NOTES.—1. _Morus alba._ 2. _Geography of the Route since Chapter XXXVIII._ 3. _Kenjanfu or Si-ngan fu; the Christian monument there._ 4. _Prince Mangala._ XLII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUNCUN, WHICH IS RIGHT WEARISOME TO TRAVEL THROUGH 31 NOTE.—_The Mountain Road to Southern Shen-si._ XLIII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ACBALEC MANZI 33 NOTES.—1. _Geography, and doubts about Acbalec._ 2. _Further Journey into Sze-ch’wan._ XLIV.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF SINDAFU 36 NOTES.—1. _Ch’êng-tu fu._ 2. _The Great River or |Kiang|._ 3. _The word |Comercque|._ 4. _The Bridge-Tolls._ 5. _Correction of Text._ XLV.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TEBET 42 NOTES.—1. _The Part of Tibet and events referred to._ 2. _Noise of burning bamboos._ 3. _Road retains its desolate character._ 4. _Persistence of eccentric manners illustrated._ 5. _Name of the Musk animal._ XLVI.—FURTHER DISCOURSE CONCERNING TEBET 49 NOTES.—1. _Explanatory._ 2. “Or de Paliolle.” 3. _Cinnamon._ 4. 5. _Great Dogs, and |Beyamini| oxen._ XLVII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CAINDU 53 NOTES.—1. _Explanation from Ramusio._ 2. _Pearls of Inland Waters._ 3. _Lax manners._ 4. _Exchange of Salt for Gold._ 5. _Salt currency._ 6. _Spiced Wine._ 7. _Plant like the Clove, spoken of by Polo. Tribes of this Tract._ XLVIII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN 64 NOTES.—1. _Geography of the Route between Sindafu or Ch’êng-tu fu, and Carajan or Yun-nan._ 2. _Christians and Mahomedans in Yun-nan._ 3. _Wheat._ 4. _Cowries._ 5. _Brine-spring._ 6. _Parallel._ XLIX.—CONCERNING A FURTHER PART OF THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN 76 NOTES.—1. _City of Talifu._ 2. _Gold._ 3. _Crocodiles._ 4. _Yun-nan horses and riders. Arms of the Aboriginal Tribes._ 5. _Strange superstition and parallels._ L.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ZARDANDAN 84 NOTES.—1. _Carajan and Zardandan._ 2. _The Gold-Teeth._ 3. _Male Indolence._ 4. _The Couvade._ (See App. L. 8.) 5. _Abundance of Gold. Relation of Gold to Silver._ 6. _Worship of the Ancestor._ 7. _Unhealthiness of the climate._ 8. _Tallies._ 9.–12. _Medicine-men or Devil-dancers; extraordinary identity of practice in various regions._ LI.—WHEREIN IS RELATED HOW THE KING OF MIEN AND BANGALA VOWED VENGEANCE AGAINST THE GREAT KAAN 98 NOTES.—1. _Chronology._ 2. _Mien or Burma. Why the King may have been called King of Bengal also._ 3. _Numbers alleged to have been carried on elephants._ LII.—OF THE BATTLE THAT WAS FOUGHT BY THE GREAT KAAN’S HOST AND HIS SENESCHAL AGAINST THE KING OF MIEN 101 NOTES.—1. _Nasruddin._ 2. _Cyrus’s Camels._ 3. _Chinese Account of the Action. General Correspondence of the Chinese and Burmese Chronologies._ LIII.—OF THE GREAT DESCENT THAT LEADS TOWARDS THE KINGDOM OF MIEN 106 NOTES.—1. _Market-days._ 2. _Geographical difficulties._ LIV.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF MIEN, AND THE TWO TOWERS THAT ARE THEREIN, ONE OF GOLD, AND THE OTHER OF SILVER 109 NOTES.—1. _Amien._ 2. _Chinese Account of the Invasion of Burma. Comparison with Burmese Annals. The City intended. The Pagodas._ 3. _Wild Oxen._ LV.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF BANGALA 114 NOTES.—1. _Polo’s view of Bengal; and details of his account illustrated._ 2. _Great Cattle._ LVI.—DISCOURSES OF THE PROVINCE OF CAUGIGU 116 NOTE.—_A Part of Laos. Papesifu. Chinese Geographical Etymologies._ LVII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ANIN 119 NOTES.—1. _The Name. Probable identification of territory._ 2. _Textual._ LVIII.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF COLOMAN 122 NOTES.—1. _The Name. The Kolo-man._ 2. _Natural defences of Kwei-chau._ LIX.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUIJU 124 NOTES.—1. _Kwei-chau. Phungan-lu._ 2. _Grass-cloth._ 3. _Tigers._ 4. _Great Dogs._ 5. _Silk._ 6. _Geographical Review of the Route since Chapter LV._ 7. _Return to Juju._ BOOK SECOND. (_Continued_.) PART III. _Journey Southward through Eastern Provinces of Cathay and Manzi._ LX.—CONCERNING THE CITIES OF CACANFU AND CHANGLU 132 NOTES.—1. _Pauthier’s Identifications._ 2. _Changlu. The Burning of the Dead ascribed to the Chinese._ LXI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF CHINANGLI, AND THAT OF TADINFU, AND THE REBELLION OF LITAN 135 NOTES.—1. _T’si-nan fu._ 2. _Silk of Shan-tung._ 3. _Title |Sangon|._ 4. _Agul and Mangkutai._ 5. _History of Litan’s Revolt._ LXII.—CONCERNING THE NOBLE CITY OF SINJUMATU 138 NOTE.—_The City intended. The Great Canal._ LXIII.—CONCERNING THE CITIES OF LINJU AND PIJU 140 NOTES.—1. _Linju._ 2. _Piju._ LXIV.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF SIJU, AND THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN 141 NOTES.—1. _Siju._ 2. _The Hwang-Ho and its changes._ 3. _Entrance to Manzi; that name for Southern China._ LXV.—HOW THE GREAT KAAN CONQUERED THE PROVINCE OF MANZI 144 NOTES.—1. _Meaning and application of the title |Faghfur|._ 2. _Chinese self-devotion._ 3. _Bayan the Great Captain._ 4. _His lines of Operation._ 5. _The Juggling Prophecy._ 6. _The Fall of the Sung Dynasty._ 7. _Exposure of Infants, and Foundling Hospitals._ LXVI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF COIGANJU 151 NOTE.—_Hwai-ngan fu._ LXVII.—OF THE CITIES OF PAUKIN AND CAYU 152 NOTE.—_Pao-yng and Kao-yu._ LXVIII.—OF THE CITIES OF TIJU, TINJU, AND YANJU 153 NOTES.—1. _Cities between the Canal and the Sea._ 2. _Yang-chau._ 3. _Marco Polo’s Employment at this City._ LXIX.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF NANGHIN 157 NOTE.—_Ngan-king._ LXX.—CONCERNING THE VERY NOBLE CITY OF SAIANFU, AND HOW ITS CAPTURE WAS EFFECTED 158 NOTES.—1. and 2. _Various Readings._ 3. _Digression on the Military Engines of the Middle Ages._ 4. _Mangonels of Cœur de Lion._ 5. _Difficulties connected with Polo’s Account of this Siege._ LXXI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF SINJU AND THE GREAT RIVER KIAN 170 NOTES.—1. _I-chin hien._ 2. _The Great Kiang._ 3. _Vast amount of tonnage on Chinese Waters._ 4. _Size of River Vessels._ 5. _Bamboo Tow-lines._ 6. _Picturesque Island Monasteries._ LXXII.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIJU 174 NOTES.—1. _Kwa-chau._ 2. _The Grand Canal and Rice-Transport._ 3. _The Golden Island._ LXXIII.—OF THE CITY OF CHINGHIANFU 176 NOTE.—_Chin-kiang fu. Mar Sarghis, the Christian Governor._ LXXIV.—OF THE CITY OF CHINGINJU AND THE SLAUGHTER OF CERTAIN ALANS THERE 178 NOTES.—1. _Chang-chau._ 2. _Employment of Alans in the Mongol Service._ 3. _The Chang-chau Massacre. Mongol Cruelties._ LXXV.—OF THE NOBLE CITY OF SUJU 181 NOTES.—1. _Su-chau._ 2. _Bridges of that part of China._ 3. _Rhubarb; its mention here seems erroneous._ 4. _The Cities of Heaven and Earth. Ancient incised Plan of Su-chau._ 5. _Hu-chau, Wu-kiang, and Kya-hing._ LXXVI.—DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY, WHICH IS THE CAPITAL OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY OF MANZI 185 NOTES.—1. _King-szé now Hang-chau._ 2. _The circuit ascribed to the City; the Bridges._ 3. _Hereditary Trades._ 4. _The Si-hu or Western Lake._ 5. _Dressiness of the People._ 6. _Charitable Establishments._ 7. _Paved roads._ 8. _Hot and Cold Baths._ 9. _Kanp’u, and the Hang-chau Estuary._ 10. _The Nine Provinces of Manzi._ 11. _The Kaan’s Garrisons in Manzi._ 12. _Mourning costume._ 13. 14. _Tickets recording inmates of houses._ LXXVII.—[FURTHER PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY.] 200 (From Ramusio only.) NOTES.—1. _Remarks on these supplementary details._ 2. _Tides in the Hang-chau Estuary._ 3. _Want of a good Survey of Hang-chau. The Squares._ 4. _Marco ignores pork._ 5. _Great Pears: Peaches._ 6. _Textual._ 7. _Chinese use of Pepper._ 8. _Chinese claims to a character for Good Faith._ 9. _Pleasure-parties on the Lake._ 10. _Chinese Carriages._ 11. _The Sung Emperor._ 12. _The Sung Palace. Extracts regarding this Great City from other mediæval writers, European and Asiatic. Martini’s Description._ LXXVIII.—TREATING OF THE YEARLY REVENUE THAT THE GREAT KAAN HATH FROM KINSAY 215 NOTES.—1. _Textual._ 2. _Calculations as to the values spoken of._ LXXIX.—OF THE CITY OF TANPIJU AND OTHERS 218 NOTES.—1. _Route from Hang-chau southward._ 2. _Bamboos._ 3. _Identification of places. Chang-shan the key to the route._ LXXX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF FUJU 224 NOTES.—1. “_Fruit like Saffron._” 2. 3. _Cannibalism ascribed to Mountain Tribes on this route._ 4. _Kien-ning fu._ 5. _Galingale._ 6. _Fleecy Fowls._ 7. _Details of the Journey in Fo-kien and various readings._ 8. _Unken. Introduction of Sugar-refining into China._ LXXXI.—CONCERNING THE GREATNESS OF THE CITY OF FUJU 231 NOTES.—1. _The name |Chonka|, applied to Fo-kien here. |Cayton| or |Zayton|._ 2. _Objections that have been made to identity of |Fuju| and Fu-chau._ 3. _The Min River._ LXXXII.—OF THE CITY AND GREAT HAVEN OF ZAYTON 234 NOTES.—1. _The Camphor Laurel._ 2. _The Port of Zayton or T’swan-chau; Recent objections to this identity. Probable origin of the word_ Satin. 3. _Chinese Consumption of Pepper._ 4. _Artists in Tattooing._ 5. _Position of the Porcelain manufacture spoken of. Notions regarding the |Great River| of China._ 6. _Fo-kien dialects and variety of spoken language in China._ 7. _From Ramusio._ BOOK THIRD. _Japan, the Archipelago, Southern India, and the Coasts and Islands of the Indian Sea._ CHAP. PAGE I.—OF THE MERCHANT SHIPS OF MANZI THAT SAIL UPON THE INDIAN SEAS 249 NOTES.—1. _Pine Timber._ 2. _Rudder and Masts._ 3. _Watertight Compartments._ 4. _Chinese substitute for Pitch._ 5. _Oars used by Junks._ 6. _Descriptions of Chinese Junks from other Mediæval Writers._ II.—DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF CHIPANGU, AND THE GREAT KAAN’S DESPATCH OF A HOST AGAINST IT 253 NOTES.—1. _Chipangu or Japan._ 2. _Abundance of Gold._ 3. _The Golden Palace._ 4. _Japanese Pearls. Red Pearls._ III.—WHAT FURTHER CAME OF THE GREAT KAAN’S EXPEDITION AGAINST CHIPANGU 258 NOTES.—1. _Kúblái’s attempts against Japan. Japanese Narrative of the Expedition here spoken of._ (See App. L. 9.) 2. _Species of Torture._ 3. _Devices to procure Invulnerability._ IV.—CONCERNING THE FASHION OF THE IDOLS 263 NOTES.—1. _Many-limbed Idols._ 2. _The Philippines and Moluccas._ 3. _The name |Chin| or |China|._ 4. _The Gulf of Cheinan._ V.—OF THE GREAT COUNTRY CALLED CHAMBA 266 NOTES.—1. _Champa, and Kúblái’s dealings with it._ (See App. L. 10). 2. _Chronology._ 3. _Eagle-wood and Ebony. Polo’s use of Persian words._ VI.—CONCERNING THE GREAT ISLAND OF JAVA 272 NOTE.—_Java; its supposed vast extent. Kúblái’s expedition against it and failure._ VII.—WHEREIN THE ISLES OF SONDUR AND CONDUR ARE SPOKEN OF; AND THE KINGDOM OF LOCAC 276 NOTES.—1. _Textual._ 2. _Pulo Condore._ 3. _The Kingdom of Locac, Southern Siam._ VIII.—OF THE ISLAND CALLED PENTAM, AND THE CITY MALAIUR 280 NOTES.—1. _Bintang._ 2. _The Straits of Singapore._ 3. _Remarks on the Malay Chronology. Malaiur probably Palembang._ IX.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF JAVA THE LESS. THE KINGDOMS OF FERLEC AND BASMA 284 NOTES.—1. _The Island of Sumatra: application of the term |Java|._ 2. _Products of Sumatra. The six kingdoms._ 3. _Ferlec or Parlák. The Battas._ 4. _Basma, Pacem, or Pasei._ 5. _The Elephant and the Rhinoceros. The Legend of Monoceros and the Virgin._ 6. _Black Falcon._ X.—THE KINGDOMS OF SAMARA AND DAGROIAN 292 NOTES.—1. _Samara, Sumatra Proper._ 2. _The Tramontaine and the Mestre._ 3. _The Malay Toddy-Palm._ 4. _Dagroian._ 5. _Alleged custom of eating dead relatives._ XI.—OF THE KINGDOMS OF LAMBRI AND FANSUR 299 NOTES.—1. _Lambri._ 2. _Hairy and Tailed Men._ 3. _Fansur and Camphor Fansuri. Sumatran Camphor._ 4. _The Sago-Palm._ 5. _Remarks on Polo’s Sumatran Kingdoms._ XII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF NECUVERAN 306 NOTE.—_Gauenispola, and the Nicobar Islands._ XIII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF ANGAMANAIN 309 NOTE.—_The Andaman Islands._ XIV.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SEILAN 312 NOTES.—1. _Chinese Chart._ 2. _Exaggeration of Dimensions. The Name._ 3. _Sovereigns then ruling Ceylon._ 4. _Brazil Wood and Cinnamon._ 5. _The Great Ruby._ XV.—THE SAME CONTINUED. THE HISTORY OF SAGAMONI BORCAN AND THE BEGINNING OF IDOLATRY 316 NOTES.—1. _Adam’s Peak, and the Foot thereon._ 2. _The Story of Sakya-Muni Buddha. The History of Saints Barlaam and Josaphat; a Christianised version thereof._ 3. _High Estimate of Buddha’s Character._ 4. _Curious Parallel Passages._ 5. _Pilgrimages to the Peak._ 6. _The Pâtra of Buddha, and the Tooth-Relic._ 7. _Miraculous endowments of the Pâtra; it is the Holy Grail of Buddhism._ XVI.—CONCERNING THE GREAT PROVINCE OF MAABAR, WHICH IS CALLED INDIA THE GREATER, AND IS ON THE MAINLAND 331 NOTES.—1. _Ma’bar, its definition, and notes on its Mediæval History._ 2. _The Pearl Fishery._ XVII.—CONTINUES TO SPEAK OF THE PROVINCE OF MAABAR 338 NOTES.—1. _Costume._ 2. _Hindu Royal Necklace._ 3. _Hindu use of the Rosary._ 4. _The Saggio._ 5. _Companions in Death; the word |Amok|._ 6. _Accumulated Wealth of Southern India at this time._ 7. _Horse Importation from the Persian Gulf._ 8. _Religious Suicides._ 9. _Suttees._ 10. _Worship of the Ox. The Govis_. 11. _Verbal._ 12. _The Thomacides._ 13. _Ill-success of Horse-breeding in S. India._ 14. _Curious Mode of Arrest for Debt._ 15. _The Rainy Seasons._ 16. _Omens of the Hindus._ 17. _Strange treatment of Horses._ 18. _The Devadásis._ 19. _Textual._ XVIII.—DISCOURSING OF THE PLACE WHERE LIETH THE BODY OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE; AND OF THE MIRACLES THEREOF 353 NOTES.—1. _Mailapúr._ 2. _The word |Avarian|._ 3. _Miraculous Earth._ 4. _The Traditions of St. Thomas in India. The ancient Church at his Tomb; the ancient Cross preserved on St. Thomas’s Mount._ 5. _White Devils._ 6. _The Yak’s Tail._ XIX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF MUTFILI 359 NOTES.—1. _Motapallé. The Widow Queen of Telingana._ 2. _The Diamond Mines, and the Legend of the Diamond Gathering._ 3. _Buckram._ XX.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF LAR WHENCE THE BRAHMANS COME 363 NOTES.—1. _Abraiaman. The Country of Lar. Hindu Character._ 2. _The Kingdom of Soli or Chola._ 3. _Lucky and Unlucky Days and Hours. The Canonical Hours of the Church._ 4. _Omens._ 5. _Jogis. The Ox-emblem._ 6. _Verbal._ 7. _Recurrence of Human Eccentricities._ XXI.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIL 370 NOTES.—1. _Káyal; its true position. |Kolkhoi| identified._ 2. _The King Ashar or As-char._ 3. _Correa, Note._ 4. _Betel-chewing._ 5. _Duels._ XXII.—OF THE KINGDOM OF COILUM 375 NOTES.—1. _Coilum, Coilon, Kaulam, Columbum, Quilon. Ancient Christian Churches._ 2. _Brazil Wood: notes on the name._ 3. _Columbine Ginger and other kinds._ 4. _Indigo._ 5. _Black Lions._ 6. _Marriage Customs._ XXIII.—OF THE COUNTRY CALLED COMARI 382 NOTES.—1. _Cape Comorin._ 2. _The word |Gat-paul|._ XXIV.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM ELI 385 NOTES.—1. _Mount D’Ely, and the City of Hili-Máráwi._ 2. _Textual._ 3. _Produce._ 4. _Piratical custom._ 5. _Wooden Anchors._ XXV.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF MELIBAR 389 NOTES.—1. _Dislocation of Polo’s Indian Geography. The name of Malabar._ 2. _Verbal._ 3. _Pirates._ 4. _Cassia: Turbit: Cubebs._ 5. _Cessation of direct Chinese trade with Malabar._ XXVI.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOZURAT 392 NOTES.—1. _Topographical Confusion._ 2. _Tamarina._ 3. _Tall Cotton Trees._ 4. _Embroidered Leather-work._ XXVII.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF TANA 395 NOTES.—1. _Tana, and the Konkan._ 2. _Incense of Western India._ XXVIII.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF CAMBAET 397 NOTE.—_Cambay._ XXIX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF SEMENAT 398 NOTE.—_Somnath, and the so-called Gates of Somnath._ XXX.—CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF KESMACORAN 401 NOTES.—1. _Kij-Mekrán. Limit of India._ 2. _Recapitulation of Polo’s Indian Kingdoms._ XXXI.—DISCOURSETH OF THE TWO ISLANDS CALLED MALE AND FEMALE, AND WHY THEY ARE SO CALLED 404 NOTE.—_The Legend and its diffusion._ XXXII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SCOTRA 406 NOTES.—1. _Whales of the Indian Seas._ 2. _Socotra and its former Christianity._ 3. _Piracy at Socotra._ 4. _Sorcerers._ XXXIII.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF MADEIGASCAR 411 NOTES.—1. _Madagascar; some confusion here with Magadoxo._ 2. _Sandalwood._ 3. _Whale-killing. The |Capidoglio| or Sperm-Whale._ 4. _The Currents towards the South._ 5. _The Rukh_ (and see Appendix L. 11). 6. _More on the dimensions assigned thereto._ 7. _Hippopotamus Teeth._ XXXIV.—CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF ZANGHIBAR. A WORD ON INDIA IN GENERAL 422 NOTES.—1. _Zangibar; Negroes._ 2. _Ethiopian Sheep._ 3. _Giraffes._ 4. _Ivory trade._ 5. _Error about Elephant-taming._ 6. _Number of Islands assigned to the Indian Sea._ 7. _The Three Indies, and various distributions thereof. Polo’s Indian Geography._ XXXV.—TREATING OF THE GREAT PROVINCE OF ABASH, WHICH IS MIDDLE INDIA, AND IS ON THE MAINLAND 427 NOTES.—1. _Ḥabash or Abyssinia. Application of the name India to it._ 2. _Fire Baptism ascribed to the Abyssinian Christians._ 3. _Polo’s idea of the position of Aden._ 4. _Taming of the African Elephant for War._ 5. _Marco’s Story of the Abyssinian Invasion of the Mahomedan Low-Country, and Review of Abyssinian Chronology in connection therewith._ 6. _Textual._ XXXVI.—CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ADEN 438 NOTES.—1. _The Trade to Alexandria from India |viâ| Aden._ 2. “Roncins à deux selles.” 3. _The Sultan of Aden. The City and its Great Tanks._ 4. _The Loss of Acre._ XXXVII.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF ESHER 442 NOTES.—1. _Shihr._ 2. _Frankincense._ 3. _Four-horned Sheep._ 4. _Cattle fed on Fish._ 5. _Parallel passage._ XXXVIII.—CONCERNING THE CITY OF DUFAR 444 NOTES.—1. _Dhofar._ 2. _Notes on Frankincense._ XXXIX.—CONCERNING THE GULF OF CALATU, AND THE CITY SO CALLED 449 NOTES.—1. _Kalhát._ 2. “En fra terre.” 3. _Maskat._ XL.—RETURNS TO THE CITY OF HORMOS WHEREOF WE SPOKE FORMERLY 451 NOTES.—1. _Polo’s distances and bearings in these latter chapters._ 2. _Persian |Bád-gírs| or wind-catching chimneys._ 3. _Island of Kish._ BOOK FOURTH. _Wars among the Tartar Princes, and some Account of the Northern Countries._ CHAP. PAGE I.—CONCERNING GREAT TURKEY 457 NOTES.—1. _Kaidu Khan._ 2. _His frontier towards the Great Kaan._ II.—OF CERTAIN BATTLES THAT WERE FOUGHT BY KING CAIDU AGAINST THE ARMIES OF HIS UNCLE THE GREAT KAAN 459 NOTES.—1. _Textual._ 2. “Araines.” 3. _Chronology in connection with the events described._ III.—†WHAT THE GREAT KAAN SAID TO THE MISCHIEF DONE BY CAIDU HIS NEPHEW 463 IV.—OF THE EXPLOITS OF KING CAIDU’S VALIANT DAUGHTER 463 NOTE.—_Her name explained. Remarks on the story._ V.—HOW ABAGA SENT HIS SON ARGON IN COMMAND AGAINST KING CAIDU 466 (Extract and Substance.) NOTES.—1. _Government of the Khorasan frontier._ 2. _The Historical Events._ VI.—HOW ARGON AFTER THE BATTLE HEARD THAT HIS FATHER WAS DEAD AND WENT TO ASSUME THE SOVEREIGNTY AS WAS HIS RIGHT 467 NOTES.—1. _Death of Ábáká._ 2. _Textual._ 3. _Ahmad Tigudar._ VII.—†HOW ACOMAT SOLDAN SET OUT WITH HIS HOST AGAINST HIS NEPHEW WHO WAS COMING TO CLAIM THE THRONE THAT BELONGED TO HIM 468 VIII.—†HOW ARGON TOOK COUNSEL WITH HIS FOLLOWERS ABOUT ATTACKING HIS UNCLE ACOMAT SOLDAN 468 IX.—†HOW THE BARONS OF ARGON ANSWERED HIS ADDRESS 469 X.—†THE MESSAGE SENT BY ARGON TO ACOMAT 469 XI.—HOW ACOMAT REPLIED TO ARGON’S MESSAGE 469 XII.—OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN ARGON AND ACOMAT, AND THE CAPTIVITY OF ARGON 470 NOTES.—1. _Verbal._ 2. _Historical._ XIII.—HOW ARGON WAS DELIVERED FROM PRISON 471 XIV.—HOW ARGON GOT THE SOVEREIGNTY AT LAST 472 XV.—†HOW ACOMAT WAS TAKEN PRISONER 473 XVI.—HOW ACOMAT WAS SLAIN BY ORDER OF HIS NEPHEW 473 XVII.—HOW ARGON WAS RECOGNISED AS SOVEREIGN 473 NOTES.—1. _The historical circumstances and persons named in these chapters._ 2. _Arghún’s accession and death._ XVIII.—HOW KIACATU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER ARGON’S DEATH 475 NOTE.—_The reign and character of Kaikhátú._ XIX.—HOW BAIDU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER THE DEATH OF KIACATU 476 NOTES.—1. _Baidu’s alleged Christianity._ 2. _Gházán Khan._ XX.—CONCERNING KING CONCHI WHO RULES THE FAR NORTH 479 NOTES.—1. _Kaunchi Khan._ 2. _Siberia._ 3. _Dog-sledges._ 4. _The animal here styled |Erculin|. The Vair._ 5. _Yugria._ XXI.—CONCERNING THE LAND OF DARKNESS 484 NOTES.—1. _The Land of Darkness._ 2. _The Legend of the Mares and their Foals._ 3. _Dumb Trade with the People of the Darkness._ XXII.—DESCRIPTION OF ROSIA AND ITS PEOPLE. PROVINCE OF LAC 486 NOTES.—1. _Old Accounts of Russia. Russian Silver and Rubles._ 2. _Lac, or Wallachia._ 3. _Oroech, Norway (?) or the Waraeg Country (?)_ XXIII.—HE BEGINS TO SPEAK OF THE STRAITS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, BUT DECIDES TO LEAVE THAT MATTER 490 XXIV.—CONCERNING THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT AND THEIR LORDS 490 NOTES.—1. _The Comanians; the Alans; Majar; Zic; the Goths of the Crimea; Gazaria._ 2. _The Khans of Kipchak or the Golden Horde; errors in Polo’s list. Extent of their Empire._ XXV.—OF THE WAR THAT AROSE BETWEEN ALAU AND BARCA, AND THE BATTLES THAT THEY FOUGHT 494 (Extracts and Substance.) NOTES.—1. _Verbal._ 2. _The Sea of Sarai._ 3._ The War here spoken of. Wassáf’s rigmarole._ XXVI.—†HOW BARCA AND HIS ARMY ADVANCED TO MEET ALAU 495 XXVII.—†HOW ALAU ADDRESSED HIS FOLLOWERS 495 XXVIII.—†OF THE GREAT BATTLE BETWEEN ALAU AND BARCA 496 XXIX.—HOW TOTAMANGU WAS LORD OF THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT; AND AFTER HIM TOCTAI 496 NOTE.—_Confusions in the Text. Historical circumstances connected with the Persons spoken of. Toctai and Noghai Khan. Symbolic Messages._ XXX.—†OF THE SECOND MESSAGE THAT TOCTAI SENT TO NOGAI 498 XXXI.—†HOW TOCTAI MARCHED AGAINST NOGAI 499 XXXII.—†HOW TOCTAI AND NOGAI ADDRESS THEIR PEOPLE, AND THE NEXT DAY JOIN BATTLE 499 XXXIII.—†THE VALIANT FEATS AND VICTORY OF KING NOGAI 499 XXXIV.—AND LAST. CONCLUSION 500 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- † Of chapters so marked nothing is given but the substance in brief. APPENDICES. A. Genealogy of the House of Chinghiz to the End of the Thirteenth Century 505 B. The Polo Families:— (I.) Genealogy of the Family of Marco Polo the Traveller 506 (II.) The Polos of San Geremia 507 C. Calendar of Documents relating to Marco Polo and his Family 510 D. Comparative Specimens of the Different Recensions of Polo’s Text 522 E. Preface to Pipino’s Latin Version 525 F. Note of MSS. of Marco Polo’s Book, so far as known: General Distribution of MSS. 526 List of Miniatures in two of the finer MSS. 527 List of MSS. of Marco Polo’s Book, so far as they are known 530 G. Diagram showing Filiation of Chief MSS. and Editions of Marco Polo 552 H. Bibliography:— (I.) Principal Editions of Marco Polo’s Book 553 (II.) Bibliography of Printed Editions 554 (III.) Titles of Sundry Books and Papers treating of Marco Polo and his Book 574 I. Titles of Works quoted by Abbreviated References in this Book 582 K. Values of Certain Moneys, Weights, and Measures occurring in this Book 590 L. Supplementary Notes to the Book of Marco Polo 593 1. The Polos at Acre. 8. La Couvade. 2. Sorcery in Kashmir. 9. Alacan. 3. PAONANO PAO. 10. Champa. 4. Pamir. 11. Ruck Quills. 5. Number of Pamirs. 12. A Spanish Marco Polo. 6. Site of Pein. 13. Sir John Mandeville. 7. Fire-arms. INDEX 607 EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME II. INSERTED PLATES AND MAPS. _To face page_ _Title_. Portrait bearing the inscription “MARCUS POLVS VENETVS TOTIVS ORBIS ET INDIE PEREGRATOR PRIMVS.” In the Gallery of Monsignor _Badia_ at Rome; copied by Sign. GIUSEPPE GNOLI, Rome. xxiv. Medallion, representing _Marco Polo_ in the PRISON of GENOA, dictating his story to Master RUSTICIAN of PISA, drawn by Signor QUINTO CENNI from a rough design by Sir HENRY YULE. 29. The celebrated CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTION OF SI-NGAN FU. Photolithographed by Mr. W. GRIGG, from a Rubbing of the original monument, given to the Editor by the _Baron F. von Richthofen_. This rubbing is more complete than that used in the first edition, for which the Editor was indebted to the kindness of _William Lockhart, Esq._ 79. The LAKE of TALI (CARAJAN of Polo) from the Northern End. Woodcut after Lieut. DELAPORTE, borrowed from Lieut. GARNIER’S Narrative in the _Tour du Monde_. 79. Suspension Bridge, neighbourhood of TALI. From a photograph by M. Tannant. 111. The CITY of MIEN, with the Gold and Silver Towers. From a drawing by the Editor, based upon his sketches of the remains of the City so called by Marco Polo, viz., PAGÁN, the mediæval capital of Burma. 131. Itineraries of Marco Polo. No. V. The INDO-CHINESE COUNTRIES. With a small sketch extracted from a Chinese Map in the possession of _Baron von Richthofen_, showing the position of KIEN-CH’ANG, the _Caindu_ of Marco Polo. 143. Sketch Map exhibiting the VARIATIONS of the TWO GREAT RIVERS of China, within the Period of History. 182. The CITY of SU-CHAU. Reduced by the Editor from a Rubbing of a Plan incised on Marble, and preserved in the Great Confucian Temple in the City. The date of the original set of Maps, of which this was one, is uncertain, owing to the partial illegibility of the Inscription; but it is subsequent to A.D. 1000. They were engraved on the Marble A.D. 1247. Many of the names have been obliterated, and a few of those given in the copy are filled up from modern information, as the Editor learns from _Mr. Wylie_, to whom he owes this valuable illustration. 193. Map of HANG-CHAU FU and its LAKE, from Chinese Sources. The Map as published in the former edition was based on a Chinese Map in the possession of _Dr. W. Lockhart_, with some particulars from Maps in a copy of the Local Topography, _Hang-Chau-fu-chi_, in the B. Museum Library. In the second edition the Map has been entirely redrawn by the Editor, with many corrections, and with the aid of new materials, supplied by the kindness of the _Rev. G. Moule_ of the Church Mission at Hang-chau. These materials embrace a Paper read by Mr. Moule before the N. China Branch of the R. As. Soc. at Shang-hai; a modern engraved Map of the City on a large scale; and a large MS. Map of the City and Lake, compiled by _John Shing_, Tailor, a Chinese Christian and Catechist; The small Side-plan is the City of SI-NGAN FU, from a plan published during the Mongol rule, in the 14th century, a tracing of which was sent by _Mr. Wylie_. The following references could not be introduced in lettering for want of space:— 1. Yuen-Tu-Kwan (Tauist Monastery). 2. Chapel of Hien-ning Prince. 3. Leih-Ching Square (_Fang_). 4. Tauist Monastery. 5. Kie-lin General Court. 6. Ancestral Chapel of Yang-Wan-Kang. 7. Chapel of the Mid-year Genius. 8. Temple of the Martial Peaceful King. 9. Stone where officers are selected. 10. Mews. 11. Jasper-Waves Square (_Fang_). 12. Court of Enquiry. 13. Gate of the Făng-Yuen Circuit. 14. Bright Gate. 15. Northern Tribunal. 16. Refectory. 17. Chapel of the Făng-Yuen Prince. 18. Embroidery manufactory. 19. Hwa-li Temple. 20. Old Superintendency of Investigations. 21. Superintendent of Works. 22. Ka-yuen Monastery. 23. Prefectural Confucian Temple. 24. Benevolent Institution. 25. Temple of Tu-Ke-King. 26. Balustrade enclosure. 27. Medicine-Bazar Street. 28. Tsin and Ching States Chapel. 29. Square of the Double Cassia Tree. N.B.—The shaded spaces are marked in the original _Min-Keu_ “Dwellings of the People.” 213. Plan of SOUTHERN PART of the CITY of KING-SZÉ (or Hang-chau), with the PALACE of the SUNG EMPERORS. From a Chinese Plan forming part of a Reprint of the official Topography of the City during the period _Hien-Shun_ (1265–1274) of the Sung Dynasty, _i.e._ the period terminated by the Mongol conquest of the City and Empire. Mr. Moule, who possesses the Chinese plan (with others of the same set), has come to the conclusion that it is a copy at second-hand. Names that are underlined are such as are preserved in the modern Map of Hang-chau. I am indebted for the use of the original plan to _Mr. Moule_; for the photographic copy and rendering of the names to _Mr. Wylie_. 241. Sketch Map of the GREAT PORTS of FO-KIEN, to illustrate the identity of Marco Polo’s ZAYTON. Besides the Admiralty Charts and other well-known sources the Editor has used in forming this a “Missionary Map of Amoy and the Neighbouring Country,” on a large scale, sent him by the _Rev. Carstairs Douglas_, LL.D., of Amoy. This contains some points not to be found in the others. 246. Itineraries of MARCO POLO, No. VI. The Journey through KIANG-NAN, CHE-KIANG, and FO-KIEN. 313. {1. Map to illustrate Marco Polo’s Chapters on the MALAY { COUNTRIES. {2. Map to illustrate his Chapters on SOUTHERN INDIA. 375. {1. Sketch showing the Position of KÁYAL in Tinnevelly. {2. Map showing the Position of the Kingdom of ELY in MALABAR. 440. ADEN, with the attempted Escalade under Alboquerque in 1513, being the Reduced Facsimile of a large contemporary Wood Engraving in the Map Department of the British Museum. (Size of the original 42½ inches by 19⅛ inches.) Photolithographic Reduction by Mr. G. B. PRAETORIUS, through the assistance of _R. H. Major_, Esq. 474. Facsimile of the Letters sent to PHILIP the FAIR, King of France, by ARGHÚN KHAN, in A.D. 1289, and by OLJAÏTU, in A.D. 1305, preserved in the Archives of France, and reproduced from the _Recueil des Documents de l’Époque Mongole_ by kind permission of H.H. Prince ROLAND BONAPARTE. 594. Some of the objects found by Dr. M. A. Stein, in Central Asia. From a photograph kindly lent by the Traveller. WOODCUTS PRINTED WITH THE TEXT. BOOK SECOND.—PART SECOND. _Page_ 4. The BRIDGE of PULISANGHIN, the _Lu-ku-k’iao_ of the Chinese, reduced from a large Chinese Engraving in the Geographical work called _Ki-fu-thung-chi_ in the Paris Library. I owe the indication of this, and of the Portrait of Kúblái Kaan in vol. i. to notes in M. Pauthier’s edition. 5. The BRIDGE of PULISANGHIN. From the _Livre des Merveilles_. 8. BRIDGE of LU-KU-K’IAO. From a photograph by Count de SEMALLÉ. 9. BRIDGE of LU-KU-K’IAO. From a photograph by Count de SEMALLÉ. 19. The ROI D’OR. Professed Portrait of the Last of the _Altun Khans_ or Kin Emperors of Cathay, from the (fragmentary) Arabic Manuscript of _Rashiduddin’s History_ in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society. This Manuscript is supposed to have been transcribed under the eye of Rashiduddin, and the drawings were probably derived from Chinese originals. 26. Plan of Ki-chau, after Duhalde. 30. The CROSS incised at the head of the GREAT CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTION of SI-NGAN FU (A.D. 781); actual size, from copy of a pencil rubbing made on the original by the _Rev. J. Lees_. Received from _Mr. A. Wylie_. 38. Diagram to elucidate the cities of Ch’êng-tu fu. 39. Plan of Ch’êng-tu. From MARCEL MONNIER’S _Tour d’Asie_, by kind permission of M. PLON. 41. Bridge near Kwan-hsien (Ch’êng-tu). From MARCEL MONNIER’S _Tour d’Asie_, by kind permission of M. PLON. 47. MOUNTAINEERS on the Borders of SZE-CH’WAN and TIBET, from one of the illustrations to Lieut. Garnier’s Narrative (see p. 48). From _Tour du Monde_. 50. VILLAGE of EASTERN TIBET on Sze-ch’wan Frontier. From _Mr. Cooper’s Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce_. 52. Example of ROADS on the TIBETAN FRONTIER of China (being actually a view of the Gorge of the Lan t’sang Kiang). From _Mr. Cooper’s Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce_. 55. The VALLEY of the KIN-SHA KIANG, near the lower end of the CAINDU of Marco Polo. From Lieut. Garnier in the _Tour du Monde_. 58. SALT PANS in Yun-nan. _From the same._ 61. Black Lolo. 62. White Lolo. From DEVÉRIA’S _Frontière Sino-annamite_. 66. _Pa-y_ Script. From the _T’oung-Pao_. 68. Garden-House on the LAKE of YUN-NAN-FU, YACHI of Polo. From _Lieut. Garnier_ in the _Tour du Monde_. 72. Road descending from the Table-Land of YUN-NAN into the VALLEY of the KIN-SHA KIANG (the BRIUS of Polo). _From the same._ 73. “A SARACEN of CARAJAN,” being the portrait of a Mahomedan Mullah in Western Yun-nan. _From the same._ 75. The Canal at YUN-NAN FU. From a photograph by M. TANNANT. 78. “Riding long like FRENCHMEN,” exemplified from the Bayeux Tapestry. After Lacroix, _Vie Militaire du Moyen Age_. 83. The SANG-MIAU tribe of KWEI-CHAU, with the Cross-bow. From a coloured drawing in a Chinese work on the Aboriginal Tribes, belonging to _W. Lockhart, Esq._ 90. Portraits of a KAKHYEN man and woman. Drawn by Q. CENNI from a photograph (anonymous). 108. Temple called GAUDAPALÉN in the city of MIEN (_i.e._ Pagán in Burma), erected _circa_ A.D. 1160. Engraving after a sketch by the first Editor, from _Fergusson’s History of Architecture_. 111. The PALACE of the KING of MIEN in modern times (viz., the Palace at Amarapura). From the same, being partly from a sketch by the first Editor. 118. Script _Pa-pe_. From the _T’oung-Pao_. 122. HO-NHI and other Tribes in the Department of Lin-ngan in S. Yun-nan, supposed to be the _Anin_ country of Marco Polo. From _Garnier_ in the _Tour du Monde_. 125. The KOLOMAN tribe, on borders of Kwei-chau and Yun-nan. From coloured drawing in _Mr. Lockhart’s_ book as above (under p. 83). 129. Script _thaï_ of Xieng-hung. From the _T’oung-Pao_. 130. Iron SUSPENSION BRIDGE at Lowatong. From _Garnier_ in _Tour du Monde_. 131. FORTIFIED VILLAGES on Western Frontier of KWEI-CHAU. _From the same._ BOOK SECOND.—PART THIRD. _Page_ 155. YANG-CHAU: the three Cities under the Sung. 156. YANG-CHAU: the Great City under the Sung. From Chinese Plans kindly sent to the present Editor by the late Father H. Havret, S.J., Zi-ka-wei. 162. MEDIÆVAL ARTILLERY ENGINES. Figs, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are CHINESE. The first four are from the Encyclopædia _San-Thsai-Thou-hoei_ (Paris Library), the last from _Amyot_, vol. viii. Figs. 6, 7, 8 are SARACEN, 6 and 7 are taken from the work of _Reinaud and Favé, Du Feu Grégeois_, and by them from the Arabic MS. of _Hassan al Raumah_ (_Arab Anc. Fonds_, No. 1127). Fig. 8 is from _Lord Munster’s Arabic Catalogue_ of Military Works, and by him from a MS. of _Rashiduddin’s History_. The remainder are EUROPEAN. Fig. 9 is from _Pertz, Scriptores_, vol. xviii., and by him from a figure of the Siege of Arbicella, 1227, in a MS. of _Genoese Annals_ (No. 773, _Supp. Lat._ of _Bib. Imp._). Fig. 10 from _Shaw’s Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages_, vol. i., No. 21, after _B. Mus. MS. Reg._ 16, _G._ vi. Fig. 11 from _Pertz_ as above, under A.D. 1182. Fig. 12, from _Valturius de Re Militari_, Verona, 1483. Figs. 13 and 14 from the _Poliorceticon_ of _Justus Lipsius_. Fig. 15 is after the Bodleian MS. of the Romance of Alexander (A.D. 1338), but is taken from the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, 3rd ser. vol. vii. p. 467. Fig. 16 from Lacroix’s _Art au Moyen Age_, after a miniature of 13th cent. in the Paris Library. Figs. 17 and 18 from the Emperor Napoleon’s _Études de l’Artillerie_, and by him taken from the MS. of _Paulus Santinus_ (Lat. MS. 7329 in Paris Library). Fig. 19 from Professor Moseley’s restoration of a Trebuchet, after the data in the Mediæval Note-book of _Villars de Honcourt_, in _Gentleman’s Magazine_ as above. Figs. 20 and 21 from the Emperor’s Book. Fig. 22 from a German MS. in the Bern Library, the _Chronicle of Justinger and Schilling_. 169. COIN from a treasure hidden during the siege of SIANG-YANG in 1268–73, and lately discovered in that city. 172. Island MONASTERIES on the YANG-TZŬ KIANG; viz.:— 1. _Uppermost_. The “Little Orphan Rock,” after a cut in _Oliphant’s Narrative_. 2. _Middle_. The “Golden Island” near Chin-kiang fu, after _Fisher’s China_. (This has been accidentally reversed in the drawing.) 3. _Lower_. The “_Silver Island_,” below the last, after Mr. Lindley’s book on the T’ai-P’ings. 177. The West Gate of CHIN-KIANG FU. From an engraving in _Fisher’s China_ after a sketch made by _Admiral Stoddart_, R.N., in 1842. 183. South-West Gate and Water Gate of SU-CHAU; facsimile on half scale from the incised Map of 1247. (See List of Inserted Plates preceding, under p. 182.) 193. The old LUH-HO-TA or Pagoda of Six Harmonies near HANG-CHAU, and anciently marking the extreme S.W. angle of the city. Drawn by Q. CENNI from an anonymous photograph received from the _Rev. G. Moule_. 196. Imperial City of HANG-CHAU in the 13th Century. 197. Metropolitan City of HANG-CHAU in the 13th Century. From the Notes of the Right Rev. _G. E. Moule_. 209. _Fang_ of SI-NGAN FU. Communicated by _A. Wylie_. 212. Stone _Chwang_ or UMBRELLA COLUMN, one of two which still mark the site of the ancient Buddhist Monastery called _Fan-T’ien-Sze_ or “Brahma’s Temple” at Hang-chau. Reduced from a pen-and-ink sketch by _Mr. Moule_. 223. Mr. PHILLIPS’ Theory of Marco Polo’s Route through Fo-Kien. 228. Scene in the BOHEA MOUNTAINS, on Polo’s route between Kiang-Si and Fo-Kien. From _Fortune’s Three Years’ Wanderings_. 233. Scene on the MIN RIVER below Fu-chau. _From the same._ 245. The KAAN’S FLEET leaving the Port of ZAYTON. The scenery is taken from an engraving in _Fisher’s China_, purporting to represent the mouth of the Chinchew River (or River of Tswan-chau), after a sketch by _Capt._ (now Adm.) _Stoddart_. But the Rev. Dr. Douglas, having pointed out that this cut really supported _his_ view of the identity of Zayton, being a view of the _Chang-chau_ River, reference was made to Admiral Stoddart, and Dr. Douglas proves to be quite right. The View was really one of the Chang-chau River; but the Editor has not been able to procure material for one of the Tswan-chau River, and so he leaves it. BOOK THIRD _Page_ 248. The KAAN’S FLEET passing through the Indian ARCHIPELAGO. From a drawing by the Editor. 254. Ancient JAPANESE EMPEROR, after a Native Drawing. From the _Tour du Monde_. 257. Ancient JAPANESE ARCHER, after a native drawing. _From the same._ 261. The JAPANESE engaged in combat with the CHINESE, after an ancient native drawing. From _Charton, Voyageurs Anciens et Modernes_. 273. JAVA. A view in the interior. From a sketch of the slopes of the Gedéh Volcano, taken by the Editor in 1860. 274. Bas Relief of one of the VESSELS frequenting the Ports of JAVA in the Middle Ages. From one of the sculptures of the BORO BODOR, after a photograph. 289. The three Asiatic RHINOCEROSES. Adapted from a proof of a woodcut given to the Editor for the purpose by the late eminent zoologist, _Edward Blyth_. It is not known to the Editor whether the cut appeared in any other publication. 291. MONOCEROS and the MAIDEN. From a mediæval drawing engraved in _Cahier et Martin, Mélanges d’Archéologie_, II. Pl. 30. 310. The BORÚS. From a manuscript belonging to the late CHARLES SCHEFER, now in the _Bibliothèque Nationale_, Paris. 311. The CYNOCEPHALI. From the _Livre des Merveilles_. 321. ADAM’S PEAK from the Sea. 327. SAKYA MUNI as a Saint of the Roman Martyrology. Facsimile from an old German version of the story of Barlaam and Josaphat (_circa_ 1477), printed by Zainer at Augsburg, in the British Museum. 330. TOOTH Reliques of BUDDHA. 1. At Kandy, after Emerson Tennent. 2. At Fu-chau, after Fortune. 336. “CHINESE PAGODA” (so called) at Negapatam. From a sketch taken by _Sir Walter Elliot_, K.C.S.I., in 1846. 352. PAGODA at TANJORE. From _Fergusson’s History of Architecture_. 353. Ancient CROSS with Pehlvi Inscription, preserved in the church on ST. THOMAS’S MOUNT near Madras. From a photograph, the gift of A. Burnell, Esq., of the Madras Civil Service, assisted by a lithographic drawing in his unpublished pamphlet on Pehlvi Crosses in South India. _N.B._—The lithograph has now appeared in the _Indian Antiquary_, November, 1874. 356. The Little MOUNT of ST. THOMAS, near Madras. After _Daniel_. 358. Small Map of the ST. THOMAS localities at Madras. 378. Ancient Christian CHURCH at PARÚR or Palúr, on the Malabar Coast; from an engraving in Pearson’s _Life of Claudius Buchanan_, after a sketch by the latter. 379. SYRIAN CHURCH at Caranyachirra, showing the quasi-Jesuit Façade generally adopted in modern times. From the _Life of Bishop Daniel Wilson_. 379. INTERIOR of Syrian CHURCH at Kötteiyam. _From the same._ 384. CAPE COMORIN. From an original sketch by Mr. FOOTE of the Geological Survey of India. 387. MOUNT D’ELY. From a _nautical sketch of last century_. 393. Mediæval ARCHITECTURE in GUZERAT, being a view of Gateway at Jinjawára, given in Forbes’s _Ras Mala_. From _Fergusson’s History of Architecture_. 399. The GATES of SOMNATH (so called), as preserved in the British Arsenal at Agra. From a photograph by Messrs. SHEPHERD and BOURNE, converted into an elevation. 415. The RUKH, after a Persian drawing. From _Lane’s Arabian Nights_. 416. Frontispiece of A. Müller’s _Marco Polo_, showing the Bird _Rukh_. 425. The ETHIOPIAN SHEEP. From a sketch by _Miss Catherine Frere_. 441. View of ADEN in 1840. From a sketch by Dr. R. KIRK in the Map-room of the Royal Geographical Society. 447. The Harvest of FRANKINCENSE in Arabia. Facsimile of an engraving in _Thevet’s Cosmographie Universelle_ (1575). Reproduced from _Cassell’s Bible Educator_, by the courtesy of the publishers. 448. BOSWELLIA FREREANA, from a drawing by Mr. W. H. FITCH. The use of this engraving is granted by the India Museum through the kindness of _Sir George Birdwood_. 453. A Persian BÁD-GÍR, or Wind-Catcher. From a drawing in the Atlas to _Hommaire de Hell’s Persia_. Engraved by ADENEY. BOOK FOURTH. _Page_ 478. Tomb of OLJAITU KHAN, the brother of Polo’s CASAN, at Sultaniah. From _Fergusson’s History of Architecture_. 483. The Siberian DOG-SLEDGE. From the _Tour du Monde_. 489. Mediæval RUSSIAN Church. From _Fergusson’s History of Architecture_. 493. Figure of a TARTAR under the Feet of Henry Duke of Silesia, Cracow, and Poland, from the tomb at Breslau of that Prince, killed in battle with the Tartar host, 9th April, 1241. After a plate in _Schlesische Fürstenbilder des Mittelalters_, Breslau, 1868. 501. Asiatic WARRIORS of Polo’s Age. From the MS. of Rashiduddin’s History, noticed under cut at p. 19. Engraved by ADENEY. APPENDICES. _Page_ 555. FIGURE of MARCO POLO, from the first printed edition of his Book, published in German at Nuremberg 1477. Traced from a copy in the Berlin Library. (This tracing was the gift of _Mr. Samuel D. Horton_, of Cincinnati, through Mr. Marsh.) 595. Marco Polo’s rectified Itinerary from Khotan to Nia. [Illustration: MARCO POLO in the Prison of Genoa.] THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO BOOK II.—_CONTINUED_. PART II.—JOURNEY TO THE WEST AND SOUTH-WEST OF CATHAY. CHAPTER XXXV. HERE BEGINS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR OF CATHAY, AND FIRST OF THE RIVER PULISANGHIN. Now you must know that the Emperor sent the aforesaid Messer Marco Polo, who is the author of this whole story, on business of his into the Western Provinces. On that occasion he travelled from Cambaluc a good four months’ journey towards the west.{1} And so now I will tell you all that he saw on his travels as he went and returned. When you leave the City of Cambaluc and have ridden ten miles, you come to a very large river which is called PULISANGHIN, and flows into the ocean, so that merchants with their merchandise ascend it from the sea. Over this River there is a very fine stone bridge, so fine indeed, that it has very few equals. The fashion of it is this: it is 300 paces in length, and it must have a good eight paces of width, for ten mounted men can ride across it abreast. It has 24 arches and as many water-mills, and ’tis all of very fine marble, well built and firmly founded. Along the top of the bridge there is on either side a parapet of marble slabs and columns, made in this way. At the beginning of the bridge there is a marble column, and under it a marble lion, so that the column stands upon the lion’s loins, whilst on the top of the column there is a second marble lion, both being of great size and beautifully executed sculpture. At the distance of a pace from this column there is another precisely the same, also with its two lions, and the space between them is closed with slabs of grey marble to prevent people from falling over into the water. And thus the columns run from space to space along either side of the bridge, so that altogether it is a beautiful object.{2} [Illustration: The Bridge of Pulisanghin. (Reduced from a Chinese original.) “=—et desus cest flum a un mout biaus pont de pieres: car sachiez qe pont n’a en tout le monde de si biaus ne son pareil.=”] NOTE 1.—[When Marco leaves the capital, he takes the main road, the “Imperial Highway,” from Peking to Si-ngan fu, _viâ_ Pao-ting, Cheng-ting, Hwai-luh, Taï-yuan, Ping-yang, and T’ung-kwan, on the Yellow River. Mr. G. F. Eaton, writing from Han-chung (_Jour. China Br. R. As. Soc._ XXVIII. No. 1) says it is a cart-road, except for six days between Taï-yuan and Hwai-luh, and that it takes twenty-nine days to go from Peking to Si-ngan, a figure which agrees well with Polo’s distances; it is also the time which Dr. Forke’s journey lasted; he left Peking on the 1st May, 1892, reached Taï-yuan on the 12th, and arrived at Si-ngan on the 30th (_Von Peking nach Ch’ang-an_). Mr. Rockhill left Peking on the 17th December, 1888, reached T’aï-yuan on the 26th, crossed the Yellow River on the 5th January, and arrived at Si-ngan fu on the 8th January, 1889, in twenty-two days, a distance of 916 miles. (_Land of the Lamas_, pp. 372–374.) M. Grenard left Si-ngan on the 10th November and reached Peking on the 16th December, 1894 = thirty-six days; he reckons 1389 kilometres = 863 miles. (See _Rev. C. Holcombe, Tour through Shan-hsi and Shen-hsi_ in _Jour. North China Br. R. A. S._ N. S. X. pp. 54–70.)—H. C.] NOTE 2.—_Pul-i-Sangín_, the name which Marco gives the _River_, means in Persian simply (as Marsden noticed) “The Stone Bridge.” In a very different region the same name often occurs in the history of Timur applied to a certain bridge, in the country north of Badakhshan, over the Wakhsh branch of the Oxus. And the Turkish admiral Sidi ’Ali, travelling that way from India in the 16th century, applies the name, as it is applied here, to the river; for his journal tells us that beyond Kuláb he crossed “the _River Pulisangin_.” [Illustration: _A Housselin d._ The Bridge of Pulisanghin. (From the _Livre des Merveilles_.)] We may easily suppose, therefore, that near Cambaluc also, the Bridge, first, and then the River, came to be known to the Persian-speaking foreigners of the court and city by this name. This supposition is however a little perplexed by the circumstance that Rashiduddin calls the _River_ the _Sangín_, and that _Sangkan_-Ho appears from the maps or citations of Martini, Klaproth, Neumann, and Pauthier to have been one of the _Chinese_ names of the river, and indeed, Sankang is still the name of one of the confluents forming the Hwan Ho. [“By _Sanghin_, Polo renders the Chinese _Sang-kan_, by which name the River Hun-ho is already mentioned, in the 6th century of our era. _Hun-ho_ is also an ancient name; and the same river in ancient books is often called _Lu-Kou_ River also. All these names are in use up to the present time; but on modern Chinese maps, only the upper part of the river is termed _Sang-Kan ho_, whilst south of the inner Great Wall, and in the plain, the name of _Hun-ho_ is applied to it. _Hun ho_ means “Muddy River,” and the term is quite suitable. In the last century, the Emperor K’ien-lung ordered the Hun-ho to be named _Yung-ting ho_, a name found on modern maps, but the people always call it _Hun ho_.” (_Bretschneider, Peking_, p. 54.)—H. C.] The River is that which appears in the maps as the Hwan Ho, Hun-ho, or Yongting Ho, flowing about 7 miles west of Peking towards the south-east and joining the Pe-Ho at Tientsin; and the Bridge is that which has been known for ages as the _Lu-kou-K’iao_ or Bridge of Lukou, adjoining the town which is called in the Russian map of Peking _Feuchen_, but in the official Chinese Atlas _Kung-Keih-cheng_. (See Map at ch. xi. of Bk. II. in the first Volume.) [“Before arriving at the bridge the small walled city of _Kung-ki cheng_ is passed. This was founded in the first half of the 17th century. The people generally call it _Fei-ch’eng_.” (_Bretschneider, Peking_, p. 50.)—H. C.] It is described both by Magaillans and Lecomte, with some curious discrepancies, whilst each affords particulars corroborative of Polo’s account of the character of the bridge. The former calls it the finest bridge in China. Lecomte’s account says the bridge was the finest he had yet seen. “It is above 170 geometrical paces (850 feet) in length. The arches are small, but the rails or side-walls are made of a hard whitish stone resembling marble. These stones are more than 5 feet long, 3 feet high, and 7 or 8 inches thick; supported at each end by pilasters adorned with mouldings and bearing the figures of lions.... The bridge is paved with great flat stones, so well joined that it is even as a floor.” Magaillans thinks Polo’s memory partially misled him, and that his description applies more correctly to another bridge on the same road, but some distance further west, over the Lieu-li Ho. For the bridge over the Hwan Ho had really but _thirteen_ arches, whereas that on the Lieu-li had, as Polo specifies, twenty-four. The engraving which we give of the Lu-kou K’iao from a Chinese work confirms this statement, for it shows but thirteen arches. And what Polo says of the navigation of the river is almost conclusive proof that Magaillans is right, and that our traveller’s memory confounded the two bridges. For the navigation of the Hwan Ho, even when its channel is full, is said to be impracticable on account of rapids, whilst the Lieu-li Ho, or “Glass River,” is, as its name implies, smooth, and navigable, and it is largely navigated by boats from the coal-mines of Fang-shan. The road crosses the latter about two leagues from Cho-chau. (See next chapter.) [The Rev. W. S. Ament (_M. Polo in Cambaluc_, p. 116–117) remarks regarding Yule’s quotation from Magaillans that “a glance at Chinese history would have explained to these gentlemen that there was no stone bridge over the Liu Li river till the days of Kia Tsing, the Ming Emperor, 1522 A.D., or more than one hundred and fifty years after Polo was dead. Hence he could not have confounded bridges, one of which he never saw. The Lu Kou Bridge was first constructed of stone by She Tsung, fourth Emperor of the Kin, in the period Ta Ting 1189 A.D., and was finished by Chang Tsung 1194 A.D. Before that time it had been constructed of wood, and had been sometimes a stationary and often a floating bridge. The oldest account [end of 16th century] states that the bridge was pu 200 in length, and specifically states that each pu was 5 feet, thus making the bridge 1000 feet long. It was called the Kuan Li Bridge. The Emperor, Kia Tsing of the Ming, was a great bridge builder. He reconstructed this bridge, adding strong embankments to prevent injury by floods. He also built the fine bridge over the Liu Li Ho, the Cho Chou Bridge over the Chü Ma Ho. What cannot be explained is Polo’s statement that the bridge had twenty-four arches, when the oldest accounts give no more than thirteen, there being eleven at the present time. The columns which supported the balustrade in Polo’s time rested upon the loins of sculptured lions. The account of the lions after the bridge was repaired by Kia Tsing says that there are so many that it is impossible to count them correctly, and gossip about the bridge says that several persons have lost their minds in making the attempt. The little walled city on the east end of the bridge, rightly called Kung Chi, popularly called Fei Ch’eng, is a monument to Ts’ung Chêng, the last of the Ming, who built it, hoping to check the advance of Li Tzu ch’eng, the great robber chief who finally proved too strong for him.”—H. C.] [Illustration: Bridge of Lu-ku k’iao.] The Bridge of Lu-kou is mentioned more than once in the history of the conquest of North China by Chinghiz. It was the scene of a notable mutiny of the troops of the _Kin_ Dynasty in 1215, which induced Chinghiz to break a treaty just concluded, and led to his capture of Peking. This bridge was begun, according to Klaproth, in 1189, and was five years a-building. On the 17th August, 1688, as Magaillans tells us, a great flood carried away two arches of the bridge, and the remainder soon fell. [Father Intorcetta, quoted by Bretschneider (_Peking_, p. 53), gives the 25th of July, 1668, as the date of the destruction of the bridge, which agrees well with the Chinese accounts.—H. C.] The bridge was renewed, but with only nine arches instead of thirteen, as appears from the following note of personal observation with which Dr. Lockhart has favoured me: “At 27 _li_ from Peking, by the western road leaving the gate of the Chinese city called Kwang-’an-măn, after passing the old walled town of Feuchen, you reach the bridge of _Lo-Ku-Kiao_. As it now stands it is a very long bridge of nine arches (real _arches_) spanning the valley of the Hwan Ho, and surrounded by beautiful scenery. The bridge is built of green sandstone, and has a good balustrade with short square pilasters crowned by small lions. It is in very good repair, and has a ceaseless traffic, being on the road to the coal-mines which supply the city. There is a pavilion at each end of the bridge with inscriptions, the one recording that K’ang-hi (1662–1723) _built_ the bridge, and the other that Kienlung (1736–1796) _repaired_ it.” These circumstances are strictly consistent with Magaillans’ account of the destruction of the mediæval bridge. Williamson describes the present bridge as about 700 feet long, and 12 feet wide in the middle part. [Dr. Bretschneider saw the bridge, and gives the following description of it: “The bridge is 350 ordinary paces long and 18 broad. It is built of sandstone, and has on either side a stone balustrade of square columns, about 4 feet high, 140 on each side, each crowned by a sculptured lion over a foot high. Beside these there are a number of smaller lions placed irregularly on the necks, behind the legs, under the feet, or on the back of the larger ones. The space between the columns is closed by stone slabs. Four sculptured stone elephants lean with their foreheads against the edge of the balustrades. The bridge is supported by eleven arches. At each end of the bridge two pavilions with yellow roofs have been built, all with large marble tablets in them; two with inscriptions made by order of the Emperor K’ang-hi (1662–1723); and two with inscriptions of the time of K’ien-lung (1736–1796). On these tablets the history of the bridge is recorded.” Dr. Bretschneider adds that Dr. Lockhart is also right in counting nine arches, for he counts only the waterways, not the arches resting upon the banks of the river. Dr. Forke (p. 5) counts 11 arches and 280 stone lions.—H. C.] (_P. de la Croix_, II. 11, etc.; _Erskine’s Baber_, p. xxxiii.; _Timour’s Institutes_, 70; _J. As._ IX. 205; _Cathay_, 260; _Magaillans_, 14–18, 35; _Lecomte_ in _Astley_, III. 529; _J. As._ sér. II. tom. i. 97–98; _D’Ohsson_, I. 144.) [Illustration: Bridge of Lu-ku k’iao.] CHAPTER XXXVI. ACCOUNT OF THE CITY OF JUJU. When you leave the Bridge, and ride towards the west, finding all the way excellent hostelries for travellers, with fine vineyards, fields, and gardens, and springs of water, you come after 30 miles to a fine large city called JUJU, where there are many abbeys of idolaters, and the people live by trade and manufactures. They weave cloths of silk and gold, and very fine taffetas.{1} Here too there are many hostelries for travellers.{2} After riding a mile beyond this city you find two roads, one of which goes west and the other south-east. The westerly road is that through Cathay, and the south-easterly one goes towards the province of Manzi.{3} Taking the westerly one through Cathay, and travelling by it for ten days, you find a constant succession of cities and boroughs, with numerous thriving villages, all abounding with trade and manufactures, besides the fine fields and vineyards and dwellings of civilized people; but nothing occurs worthy of special mention; and so I will only speak of a kingdom called TAIANFU. NOTE 1.—The word is _sendaus_ (Pauthier), pl. of _sendal_, and in G. T. _sandal_. It does not seem perfectly known what this silk texture was, but as banners were made of it, and linings for richer stuffs, it appears to have been a light material, and is generally rendered _taffetas_. In _Richard Cœur de Lion_ we find “Many a pencel of sykelatoun And of sendel of grene and broun,” and also _pavilions_ of sendel; and in the Anglo-French ballad of the death of William Earl of Salisbury in St. Lewis’s battle on the Nile— “Le Meister du Temple brace les chivaux Et le Count Long-Espée depli les _sandaux_.” The oriflamme of France was made of _cendal_. Chaucer couples taffetas and sendal. His “Doctor of Physic” “In sanguin and in persë clad was allë, Linëd with taffata and with sendallë.” [La Curne, _Dict., s.v. Sendaus_ has: Silk stuff: “Somme de la delivrance des _sendaus_.” (_Nouv. Compt. de l’Arg._ p. 19).—Godefroy, _Dict._, gives: “_Sendain_, adj., made with the stuff called cendal: Drap d’or _sendains_ (1392, _Test. de Blanche, duch d’Orl._, Ste-Croix, Arch. Loiret).” He says _s.v._ CENDAL, “_cendau, cendral, cendel, ... sendail_, ... étoffe légère de soie unie qui paraît avoir été analogue au taffetas.” “‘On faisait des _cendaux_ forts ou faibles, et on leur donnait toute sorte de couleurs. On s’en servait surtout pour vêtements et corsets, pour doublures de draps, de fourrures et d’autres étoffes de soie plus précieuses, enfin pour tenture d’appartements.’ (_Bourquelot, Foir. de Champ._ I. 261).” “J’ay de toilles de mainte guise, De sidonnes et de _cendaulx_. Soyes, satins blancs et vermaulx.” —_Greban, Mist. de la Pass._, 26826, _G. Paris_.—H. C.] The origin of the word seems also somewhat doubtful. The word Σενδἑς occurs in _Constant. Porphyrog. de Ceremoniis_ (Bonn, ed. I. 468), and this looks like a transfer of the Arabic _Săndăs_ or _Sundus_, which is applied by Bakui to the silk fabrics of Yezd. (_Not. et Ext._ II. 469.) Reiske thinks this is the origin of the Frank word, and connects its etymology with Sind. Others think that _sendal_ and the other forms are modifications of the ancient _Sindon_, and this is Mr. Marsh’s view. (See also _Fr.-Michel, Recherches, etc._ I. 212; _Dict. des Tissus_, II. 171 _seqq._) NOTE 2.—JÚJÚ is precisely the name given to this city by Rashiduddin, who notices the vineyards. Juju is CHO-CHAU, just at the distance specified from Peking, viz. 40 miles, and nearly 30 from Pulisanghin or Lu-kou K’iao. The name of the town is printed _Tsochow_ by Mr. Williamson, and _Chechow_ in a late Report of a journey by Consul Oxenham. He calls it “a large town of the second order, situated on the banks of a small river flowing towards the south-east, viz. the Kiu-ma-Ho, a navigable stream. It had the appearance of being a place of considerable trade, and the streets were crowded with people.” (_Reports of Journeys in China and Japan_, etc. Presented to Parliament, 1869, p. 9.) The place is called _Jújú_ also in the Persian itinerary given by ’Izzat Ullah in _J. R. A. S._ VII. 308; and in one procured by Mr. Shaw. (_Proc. R. G. S._ XVI. p. 253.) [The Rev. W. S. Ament (_Marco Polo_, 119–120) writes, “the historian of the city of Cho-chau sounds the praises of the people for their religious spirit. He says:—‘It was the custom of the ancients to worship those who were before them. Thus students worshipped their instructors, farmers worshipped the first husbandman, workers in silk, the original silk-worker. Thus when calamities come upon the land, the virtuous among the people make offerings to the spirits of earth and heaven, the mountains, rivers, streams, etc. All these things are profitable. These customs should never be forgotten.’ After such instruction, we are prepared to find fifty-eight temples of every variety in this little city of about 20,000 inhabitants. There is a temple to the spirits of Wind, Clouds, Thunder, and Rain, to the god of silk-workers, to the Horse-god, to the god of locusts, and the eight destructive insects, to the Five Dragons, to the King who quiets the waves. Besides these, there are all the orthodox temples to the ancient worthies, and some modern heroes. Liu Pei and Chang Fei, two of the three great heroes of the _San Kuo Chih_, being natives of Cho Chou, are each honoured with two temples, one in the native village, and one in the city. It is not often that one locality can give to a great empire two of its three most popular heroes: Liu Pei, Chang Fei, Kuan Yu.” “Judging from the condition of the country,” writes the Rev. W. S. Ament (p. 120), “one could hardly believe that this general region was the original home of the silk-worm, and doubtless the people who once lived here are the only people who ever saw the silk-worm in his wild state. The historian of Cho-Chou honestly remarks that he knows of no reason why the production of silk should have ceased there, except the fact that the worms refused to live there.... The palmy days of the silk industry were in the T’ang dynasty.”—H. C.] NOTE 3.—“About a _li_ from the southern suburbs of this town, the great road to Shantung and the south-east diverged, causing an immediate diminution in the number of carts and travellers” (_Oxenham_). [From Peking “to Cheng-ting fu”, says Colonel Bell (_Proc. R. G. S._, XII. 1890, p. 58), “the route followed is the Great Southern highway; here the Great Central Asian highway leaves it.” The Rev. W. S. Ament says (_l.c._, 121) about the bifurcation of the road, one branch going on south-west to Pao-Ting fu and Shan-si, and one branch to Shantung and Ho-nan: “The union of the two roads at this point, bringing the travel and traffic of ten provinces, makes Cho Chou one of the most important cities in the Empire. The magistrate of this district is the only one, so far as we know, in the Empire who is relieved of the duty of welcoming and escorting transient officers. It was the multiplicity of such duties, so harassing, that persuaded Fang Kuan-ch’eng to write the couplet on one of the city gateways: _Jih pien ch’ung yao, wu shuang ti: T’ien hsia fan nan, ti yi Chou_. ‘In all the world, there is no place so public as this: for multiplied cares and trials, this is the first Chou.’ The people of Cho-Chou, of old celebrated for their religious spirit, are now well known for their literary enterprise.”—H. C.] This bifurcation of the roads is a notable point in Polo’s book. For after following the western road through Cathay, _i.e._ the northern provinces of China, to the borders of Tibet and the Indo-Chinese regions, our traveller will return, whimsically enough, not to the capital to take a fresh departure, but to this bifurcation outside of Chochau, and thence carry us south with him to Manzi, or China south of the Yellow River. Of a part of the road of which Polo speaks in the latter part of the chapter Williamson says: “The drive was a very beautiful one. Not only were the many villages almost hidden by foliage, but the road itself hereabouts is lined with trees.... The effect was to make the journey like a ramble through the avenues of some English park.” Beyond Tingchau however the country becomes more barren. (I. 268.) CHAPTER XXXVII. THE KINGDOM OF TAIANFU. After riding then those ten days from the city of Juju, you find yourself in a kingdom called TAIANFU, and the city at which you arrive, which is the capital, is also called Taianfu, a very great and fine city. [But at the end of five days’ journey out of those ten, they say there is a city unusually large and handsome called ACBALUC, whereat terminate in this direction the hunting preserves of the Emperor, within which no one dares to sport except the Emperor and his family, and those who are on the books of the Grand Falconer. Beyond this limit any one is at liberty to sport, if he be a gentleman. The Great Kaan, however, scarcely ever went hunting in this direction, and hence the game, particularly the hares, had increased and multiplied to such an extent that all the crops of the Province were destroyed. The Great Kaan being informed of this, proceeded thither with all his Court, and the game that was taken was past counting.]{1} Taianfu{2} is a place of great trade and great industry, for here they manufacture a large quantity of the most necessary equipments for the army of the Emperor. There grow here many excellent vines, supplying great plenty of wine; and in all Cathay this is the only place where wine is produced. It is carried hence all over the country.{3} There is also a great deal of silk here, for the people have great quantities of mulberry-trees and silk-worms. From this city of Taianfu you ride westward again for seven days, through fine districts with plenty of towns and boroughs, all enjoying much trade and practising various kinds of industry. Out of these districts go forth not a few great merchants, who travel to India and other foreign regions, buying and selling and getting gain. After those seven days’ journey you arrive at a city called PIANFU, a large and important place, with a number of traders living by commerce and industry. It is a place too where silk is largely produced.{4} So we will leave it and tell you of a great city called Cachanfu. But stay—first let us tell you about the noble castle called Caichu. NOTE 1.—Marsden translates the commencement of this passage, which is peculiar to Ramusio, and runs “_E in capo di cinque giornate delle predette dieci_,” by the words “At the end of five days’ journey _beyond_ the ten,” but this is clearly wrong.[1] The place best suiting in position, as halfway between Cho-chau and T’ai-yuan fu, would be CHENG-TING FU, and I have little doubt that this is the place intended. The title of _Ak-Báligh_ in Turki,[2] or _Chaghán Balghásun_ in Mongol, meaning “White City,” was applied by the Tartars to Royal Residences; and possibly Cheng-ting fu may have had such a claim, for I observe in the _Annales de la Prop. de la Foi_ (xxxiii. 387) that in 1862 the Chinese Government granted to the R. C. Vicar-Apostolic of Chihli the ruined _Imperial Palace_ at Cheng-ting fu for his cathedral and other mission establishments. Moreover, as a matter of fact, Rashiduddin’s account of Chinghiz’s campaign in northern China in 1214, speaks of the city of “Chaghan Balghasun which the Chinese call _Jintzinfu_.” This is almost exactly the way in which the name of Cheng-ting fu is represented in ’Izzat Ullah’s Persian Itinerary (_Jigdzinfu_, evidently a clerical error for _Jingdzinfu_), so I think there can be little doubt that Cheng-ting fu is the place intended. The name of Hwai-luh’ien (see Note 2), which is the first stage beyond Cheng-ting fu, is said to mean the “Deer-lair,” pointing apparently to the old character of the tract as a game-preserve. The city of Cheng-ting is described by Consul Oxenham as being now in a decayed and dilapidated condition, consisting only of two long streets crossing at right angles. It is noted for the manufacture of images of Buddha from Shan-si iron. (_Consular Reports_, p. 10; _Erdmann_, 331.) [The main road turns due west at Cheng-ting fu, and enters Shan-si through what is known among Chinese travellers as the Ku-kwan, Customs’ Barrier.—H. C.] Between Cheng-ting fu and T’ai-yuan fu the traveller first crosses a high and rugged range of mountains, and then ascends by narrow defiles to the plateau of Shan-si. But of these features Polo’s excessive condensation takes no notice. The traveller who quits the great plain of Chihli [which terminates at Fu-ch’eng-i, a small market-town, two days from Pao-ting.—H. C.] for “the kingdom of Taianfu,” _i.e._ Northern Shan-si, enters a tract in which predominates that very remarkable formation called by the Chinese _Hwang-tu_, and to which the German name _Löss_ has been attached. With this formation are bound up the distinguishing characters of Northern Interior China, not merely in scenery but in agricultural products, dwellings, and means of transport. This _Löss_ is a brownish-yellow loam, highly porous, spreading over low and high ground alike, smoothing over irregularities of surface, and often more than 1000 feet in thickness. It has no stratification, but tends to cleave vertically, and is traversed in every direction by sudden crevices, almost glacier-like, narrow, with vertical walls of great depth, and infinite ramification. Smooth as the löss basin looks in a bird’s-eye view, it is thus one of the most impracticable countries conceivable for military movements, and secures extraordinary value to fortresses in well-chosen sites, such as that of Tung-kwan mentioned in Note 2 to chap. xli. Agriculture may be said in N. China to be confined to the alluvial plains and the löss; as in S. China to the alluvial plains and the terraced hill-sides. The löss has some peculiar quality which renders its productive power self-renewing without manure (unless it be in the form of a surface coat of fresh löss), and unfailing in returns if there be sufficient rain. This singular formation is supposed by Baron Richthofen, who has studied it more extensively than any one, to be no subaqueous deposit, but to be the accumulated residue of countless generations of herbaceous plants combined with a large amount of material spread over the face of the ground by the winds and surface waters. [I do not agree with the theory of Baron von Richthofen, of the almost exclusive Eolian formation of _loess_; water has something to do with it as well as wind, and I think it is more exact to say that loess _in China_ is due to a double action, Neptunian as well as Eolian. The climate was different in former ages from what it is now, and rain was plentiful and to its great quantity was due the fertility of this yellow soil. (Cf. _A. de Lapparent, Leçons de Géographie Physique_, 2ᵉ éd. 1898, p. 566.)—H. C.] Though we do not expect to find Polo taking note of geological features, we are surprised to find no mention of a characteristic of Shan-si and the adjoining districts, which is due to the _löss_; viz. the practice of forming cave dwellings in it; these in fact form the habitations of a majority of the people in the löss country. Polo _has_ noticed a similar usage in Badakhshan (I. p. 161), and it will be curious if a better acquaintance with that region should disclose a surface formation analogous to the _löss_. (_Richthofen’s Letters_, VII. 13 _et passim_.) NOTE 2.—Taianfu is, as Magaillans pointed out, T’AI-YUAN FU, the capital of the Province of Shan-si, and Shan-si is the “Kingdom.” The city was, however, the capital of the great T’ang Dynasty for a time in the 8th century, and is probably the _Tájah_ or _Taiyúnah_ of old Arab writers. Mr. Williamson speaks of it as a very pleasant city at the north end of a most fertile and beautiful plain, between two noble ranges of mountains. It was a residence, he says, also of the Ming princes, and is laid out in Peking fashion, even to mimicking the Coal-Hill and Lake of the Imperial Gardens. It stands about 3000 feet above the sea [on the left bank of the Fen-ho.—H. C.]. There is still an Imperial factory of artillery, matchlocks, etc., as well as a powder mill; and fine carpets like those of Turkey are also manufactured. The city is not, however, now, according to Baron Richthofen, very populous, and conveys no impression of wealth or commercial importance. [In an interesting article on this city, the Rev. G. B. Farthing writes (_North China Herald_, 7th September, 1894): “The configuration of the ground enclosed by T’ai-yuan fu city is that of a ‘three times to stretch recumbent cow.’ The site was chosen and described by Li Chun-feng, a celebrated professor of geomancy in the days of the T’angs, who lived during the reign of the Emperor T’ai Tsung of that ilk. The city having been then founded, its history reaches back to that date. Since that time the cow has stretched twice.... T’ai-yuan city is square, and surrounded by a wall of earth, of which the outer face is bricked. The height of the wall varies from thirty to fifty feet, and it is so broad that two carriages could easily pass one another upon it. The natives would tell you that each of the sides is three miles, thirteen paces in length, but this, possibly, includes what it will be when the cow shall have stretched for the third and last time. Two miles is the length of each side; eight miles to tramp if you wish to go round the four of them.”—H. C.] The district used to be much noted for cutlery and hardware, iron as well as coal being abundantly produced in Shan-si. Apparently the present Birmingham of this region is a town called Hwai-lu, or Hwo-luh’ien, about 20 miles west of Cheng-ting fu, and just on the western verge of the great plain of Chihli. [Regarding Hwai-lu, the Rev. C. Holcombe calls it “a miserable town lying among the foot hills, and at the mouth of the valley, up which the road into Shan-si lies.” He writes (p. 59) that Ping-ting chau, after the Customs’ barrier (Ku Kwan) between Chih-li and Shan-si, would, under any proper system of management, at no distant day become the Pittsburg, or Birmingham, of China.—H. C.] (_Richthofen’s Letters_, No. VII. 20; _Cathay_, xcvii. cxiii. cxciv.; _Rennie_, II. 265; _Williamson’s Journeys in North China; Oxenham_, u.s. 11; _Klaproth_ in _J. As._ sér. II. tom. i. 100; _Izzat Ullah’s Pers. Itin._ in _J. R. A. S._ VII. 307; _Forke, Von Peking nach Ch’ang-an_, p. 23.) [“From Khavailu (Hwo-luh’ien), an important commercial centre supplying Shansi, for 130 miles to Sze-tien, the road traverses the loess hills, which extend from the Peking-Kalgan road in a south-west direction to the Yellow River, and which are passable throughout this length only by the Great Central Asian trade route to T’ai-yuan fu and by the Tung-Kwan, Ho-nan, _i.e._ the Yellow River route.” (_Colonel Bell, Proc. R. G. S._ XII. 1890, p. 59.) Colonel Bell reckons seven days (218 miles) from Peking to Hwo-lu-h’ien and five days from this place to T’ai-yuan fu.—H. C.] NOTE 3.—Martini observes that the grapes in Shan-si were very abundant and the best in China. The Chinese used them only as raisins, but wine was made there for the use of the early Jesuit Missions, and their successors continue to make it. Klaproth, however, tells us that the wine of T’ai-yuan fu was celebrated in the days of the T’ang Dynasty, and used to be sent in tribute to the Emperors. Under the Mongols the use of this wine spread greatly. The founder of the Ming accepted the offering of wine of the vine from T’ai-yuan in 1373, but prohibited its being presented again. The finest grapes are produced in the district of Yukau-hien, where hills shield the plain from north winds, and convert it into a garden many square miles in extent. In the vintage season the best grapes sell for less than a farthing a pound. [Mr. Theos. Sampson, in an article on “Grapes in China,” writes (_Notes and Queries on China and Japan_, April, 1869, p. 50): “The earliest mention of the grape in Chinese literature appears to be contained in the chapter on the nations of Central Asia, entitled _Ta Yuan Chwan_, or description of Fergana, which forms part of the historical records (_Sze-Ki_) of Sze-ma Tsien, dating from B.C. 100. Writing of the political relations instituted shortly before this date by the Emperor Wu Ti with the nations beyond the Western frontiers of China, the historian dwells at considerable length, but unluckily with much obscurity, on the various missions despatched westward under the leadership of Chang K’ien and others, and mentions the grape vine in the following passage:—‘Throughout the country of Fergana, wine is made from grapes, and the wealthy lay up stores of wine, many tens of thousands of _shih_ in amount, which may be kept for scores of years without spoiling. Wine is the common beverage, and for horses the _mu-su_ is the ordinary pasture. The envoys from China brought back seeds with them, and hereupon the Emperor for the first time cultivated the grape and the mu-su in the most productive soils.’ In the Description of Western regions, forming part of the History of the Han Dynasty, it is stated that grapes are abundantly produced in the country of K’i-pin (identified with Cophene, part of modern Afghanistan) and other adjacent countries, and referring, if I mistake not, to the journeys of Chang K’ien, the same work says, that the Emperor Wu-Ti despatched upwards of ten envoys to the various countries westward of Fergana, to search for novelties, and that they returned with grape and mu-su seeds. These references appear beyond question to determine the fact that grapes were introduced from Western—or, as we term it, Central—Asia, by Chang K’ien.” Dr. Bretschneider (_Botanicon Sinicum_, I. p. 25), relating the mission of Chang K’ien (139 B.C. Emperor Wu-Ti), who died about B.C. 103, writes:—“He is said to have introduced many useful plants from Western Asia into China. Ancient Chinese authors ascribe to him the introduction of the Vine, the Pomegranate, Safflower, the Common Bean, the Cucumber, Lucerne, Coriander, the Walnut-tree, and other plants.”—H. C.] The river that flows down from Shan-si by Cheng-ting-fu is called “Putu-ho, or the Grape River.” (_J. As._ u.s.; _Richthofen_, u.s.) [Regarding the name of this river, the Rev. C. Holcombe (_l.c._ p. 56) writes: “Williamson states in his _Journeys in North China_ that the name of this stream is, properly _Poo-too Ho_—‘Grape River,’ but is sometimes written Hu-t’ou River incorrectly. The above named author, however, is himself in error, the name given above [_Hu-t’o_] being invariably found in all Chinese authorities, as well as being the name by which the stream is known all along its course.” West of the Fan River, along the western border of the Central Plain of Shan-si, in the extreme northern point of which lies T’aï-yuan fu, the Rev. C. Holcombe says (p. 61), “is a large area, close under the hills, almost exclusively given up to the cultivation of the grape. The grapes are unusually large, and of delicious flavour.”—H. C.] NOTE 4.—✛In no part of China probably, says Richthofen, do the towns and villages consist of houses so substantial and costly as in this. Pianfu is undoubtedly, as Magaillans again notices, P’ING-YANG FU.[3] It is the _Bikan_ of Shah Rukh’s ambassadors. [Old P’ing yang, 5 _lis_ to the south] is said to have been the residence of the primitive and mythical Chinese Emperor Yao. A great college for the education of the Mongols was instituted at P’ing-yang, by Yeliu Chutsai, the enlightened minister of Okkodai Khan. [Its dialect differs from the T’aï-yuan dialect, and is more like Pekingese.] The city, lying in a broad valley covered with the yellow löss, was destroyed by the T’aï-P’ing rebels, but it is reviving. [It is known for its black pottery.] The vicinity is noted for large paper factories. [“From T’ai-yuan fu to P’ing-yang fu is a journey of 185 miles, down the valley of the Fuen-ho.” (Colonel Bell, _Proc. R. G. S._ XII. 1890, p. 61.) By the way, Mr. Rockhill remarks (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 10): “Richthofen has transcribed the name of this river _Fuen_. This spelling has been adopted on most of the recent maps, both German and English, but _Fuen_ is an impossible sound in Chinese.” (Read _Fen ho_.)—H. C.] (_Cathay_, ccxi.; _Ritter_, IV. 516; _D’Ohsson_, II. 70; _Williamson_, I. 336.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] And I see Ritter understood the passage as I do (IV. 515). [2] _Báligh_ is indeed properly Mongol. [3] It seems to be called _Piyingfu_ (miswritten Piying_ku_) in Mr. Shaw’s _Itinerary_ from Yarkand (_Pr. R. G. S._ XVI. 253.) We often find the Western modifications of Chinese names very persistent. CHAPTER XXXVIII. CONCERNING THE CASTLE OF CAICHU. On leaving Pianfu you ride two days westward, and come to the noble castle of CAICHU, which was built in time past by a king of that country, whom they used to call the GOLDEN KING, and who had there a great and beautiful palace. There is a great hall of this palace, in which are pourtrayed all the ancient kings of the country, done in gold and other beautiful colours, and a very fine sight they make. Each king in succession as he reigned added to those pictures.{1} [This Golden King was a great and potent Prince, and during his stay at this place there used to be in his service none but beautiful girls, of whom he had a great number in his Court. When he went to take the air about the fortress, these girls used to draw him about in a little carriage which they could easily move, and they would also be in attendance on the King for everything pertaining to his convenience or pleasure.{2}] Now I will tell you a pretty passage that befell between the Golden King and Prester John, as it was related by the people of the Castle. It came to pass, as they told the tale, that this Golden King was at war with Prester John. And the King held a position so strong that Prester John was not able to get at him or to do him any scathe; wherefore he was in great wrath. So seventeen gallants belonging to Prester John’s Court came to him in a body, and said that, an he would, they were ready to bring him the Golden King alive. His answer was, that he desired nothing better, and would be much bounden to them if they would do so. So when they had taken leave of their Lord and Master Prester John, they set off together, this goodly company of gallants, and went to the Golden King, and presented themselves before him, saying that they had come from foreign parts to enter his service. And he answered by telling them that they were right welcome, and that he was glad to have their service, never imagining that they had any ill intent. And so these mischievous squires took service with the Golden King; and served him so well that he grew to love them dearly. And when they had abode with that King nearly two years, conducting themselves like persons who thought of anything but treason, they one day accompanied the King on a pleasure party when he had very few else along with him: for in those gallants the King had perfect trust, and thus kept them immediately about his person. So after they had crossed a certain river that is about a mile from the castle, and saw that they were alone with the King, they said one to another that now was the time to achieve that they had come for. Then they all incontinently drew, and told the King that he must go with them and make no resistance, or they would slay him. The King at this was in alarm and great astonishment, and said: “How then, good my sons, what thing is this ye say? and whither would ye have me go?” They answered, and said: “You shall come with us, will ye, nill ye, to Prester John our Lord.” NOTE 1.—The name of the castle is very doubtful. But of that and the geography, which in this part is tangled, we shall speak further on. Whilst the original French texts were unknown, the king here spoken of figured in the old Latin versions as King _Darius_, and in Ramusio as _Re Dor_. It was a most happy suggestion of Marsden’s, in absence of all knowledge of the fact that the original narrative was _French_, that this Dor represented the Emperor of the _Kin_ or Golden Dynasty, called by the Mongols _Altun Khán_, of which _Roi D’Or_ is a literal translation. [Illustration: The “Roi d’Or.” (From a MS. in the Royal Asiatic Society’s Collection.) “=Et en ceste chastiaus ha un mout biaus paleis en quel a une grandisme sale là ou il sunt portrait à mout belles pointures tout les rois de celes provences que furent ansienemant, et ce est mout belle viste à voir.=”] Of the legend itself I can find no trace. Rashiduddin relates a story of the grandfather of Aung Khan (Polo’s Prester John), Merghuz Boirúk Khan, being treacherously made over to the King of the Churché (the Kin sovereign), and put to death by being nailed to a wooden ass. But the same author tells us that Aung Khan got his title of Aung (Ch. _Wang_) or king from the Kin Emperor of his day, so that no hereditary feud seems deducible. Mr. Wylie, who is of opinion, like Baron Richthofen, that the _Caichu_ which Polo makes the scene of that story, is Kiai-chau (or Hiai-chau as it seems to be pronounced), north of the Yellow River, has been good enough to search the histories of the Liao and Kin Dynasties,[1] but without finding any trace of such a story, or of the Kin Emperors having resided in that neighbourhood. On the other hand, he points out that the story has a strong resemblance to a real event which occurred in Central Asia in the beginning of Polo’s century. The Persian historians of the Mongols relate that when Chinghiz defeated and slew Taiyang Khan, the king of the Naimans, Kushluk, the son of Taiyang, fled to the Gur-Khan of Karakhitai and received both his protection and the hand of his daughter (see i. 237); but afterwards rose against his benefactor and usurped his throne. “In the Liao history I read,” Mr. Wylie says, “that Chih-lu-ku, the last monarch of the Karakhitai line, ascended the throne in 1168, and in the 34th year of his reign, when out hunting one day in autumn, Kushluk, who had 8000 troops in ambush, made him prisoner, seized his throne and adopted the customs of the Liao, while he conferred on Chih-lu-ku the honourable title of _Tai-shang-hwang_ ‘the old emperor.’”[2] It is this Kushluk, to whom Rubruquis assigns the rôle of King (or Prester) John, the subject of so many wonderful stories. And Mr. Wylie points out that not only was his father Taiyang Khan, according to the Chinese histories, a much more important prince than Aung Khan or Wang Khan the Kerait, but his name _Tai-Yang-Khan_ is precisely “Great King John” as near as John (or Yohana) can be expressed in Chinese. He thinks therefore that Taiyang and his son Kushluk, the Naimans, and not Aung Khan and his descendants, the Keraits, were the parties to whom the character of Prester John properly belonged, and that it was probably this story of Kushluk’s capture of the Karakhitai monarch (_Roi de Fer_) which got converted into the form in which he relates it of the _Roi d’Or_. The suggestion seems to me, as regards the story, interesting and probable; though I do not admit that the character of Prester John properly belonged to any real person. I may best explain my view of the matter by a geographical analogy. Pre-Columbian maps of the Atlantic showed an Island of Brazil, an Island of Antillia, founded—who knows on what?—whether on the real adventure of a vessel driven in sight of the Azores or Bermudas, or on mere fancy and fogbank. But when discovery really came to be undertaken, men looked for such lands and found them accordingly. And there they are in our geographies, Brazil and the Antilles! The cut which we give is curious in connection with our traveller’s notice of the portrait-gallery of the Golden Kings. For it is taken from the fragmentary MS. of Rashiduddin’s History in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society, a MS. believed to be one of those executed under the great Vazír’s own supervision, and is presented there as the portrait of the last sovereign of the Dynasty in question, being one of a whole series of similar figures. There can be little doubt, I think, that these were taken from Chinese originals, though, it may be, not very exactly. NOTE 2.—The history of the Tartar conquerors of China, whether Khitan, Churché, Mongol, or Manchu, has always been the same. For one or two generations the warlike character and manly habits were maintained; and then the intruders, having adopted Chinese manners, ceremonies, literature, and civilization, sank into more than Chinese effeminacy and degradation. We see the custom of employing only female attendants ascribed in a later chapter (lxxvii.) to the Sung Emperors at Kinsay; and the same was the custom of the later Ming emperors, in whose time the imperial palace was said to contain 5000 women. Indeed, the precise custom which this passage describes was in our own day habitually reported of the T’ai-P’ing sovereign during his reign at Nanking: “None but women are allowed in the interior of the Palace, and _he is drawn to the audience-chamber in a gilded sacred dragon-car by the ladies_.” (_Blakiston_, p. 42; see also _Wilson’s Ever-Victorious Army_, p. 41.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] [There is no trace of it in Harlez’s French translation from the Manchu of the History of the Kin Empire, 1887.—H. C.] [2] See also Oppert (p. 157), who cites this story from Visdelou, but does not notice its analogy to Polo’s. CHAPTER XXXIX. HOW PRESTER JOHN TREATED THE GOLDEN KING HIS PRISONER. And on this the Golden King was so sorely grieved that he was like to die. And he said to them: “Good, my sons, for God’s sake have pity and compassion upon me. Ye wot well what honourable and kindly entertainment ye have had in my house; and now ye would deliver me into the hands of mine enemy! In sooth, if ye do what ye say, ye will do a very naughty and disloyal deed, and a right villainous.” But they answered only that so it must be, and away they had him to Prester John their Lord. And when Prester John beheld the King he was right glad, and greeted him with something like a malison.[1] The King answered not a word, as if he wist not what it behoved him to say. So Prester John ordered him to be taken forth straightway, and to be put to look after cattle, but to be well looked after himself also. So they took him and set him to keep cattle. This did Prester John of the grudge he bore the King, to heap contumely on him, and to show what a nothing he was, compared to himself. And when the King had thus kept cattle for two years, Prester John sent for him, and treated him with honour, and clothed him in rich robes, and said to him: “Now Sir King, art thou satisfied that thou wast in no way a man to stand against me?” “Truly, my good Lord, I know well and always did know that I was in no way a man to stand against thee.” And when he had said this Prester John replied: “I ask no more; but henceforth thou shalt be waited on and honourably treated.” So he caused horses and harness of war to be given him, with a goodly train, and sent him back to his own country. And after that he remained ever friendly to Prester John, and held fast by him. So now I will say no more of this adventure of the Golden King, but I will proceed with our subject. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] “Lui dist que il feust le mal venuz.” CHAPTER XL. CONCERNING THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN AND THE CITY OF CACHANFU. When you leave the castle, and travel about 20 miles westward, you come to a river called CARAMORAN,{1} so big that no bridge can be thrown across it; for it is of immense width and depth, and reaches to the Great Ocean that encircles the Universe,—I mean the whole earth. On this river there are many cities and walled towns, and many merchants too therein, for much traffic takes place upon the river, there being a great deal of ginger and a great deal of silk produced in the country.{2} Game birds here are in wonderful abundance, insomuch that you may buy at least three pheasants for a Venice groat of silver. I should say rather for an _asper_, which is worth a little more.{3} [On the lands adjoining this river there grow vast quantities of great canes, some of which are a foot or a foot and a half (in girth), and these the natives employ for many useful purposes.] After passing the river and travelling two days westward you come to the noble city of CACHANFU, which we have already named. The inhabitants are all Idolaters. And I may as well remind you again that all the people of Cathay are Idolaters. It is a city of great trade and of work in gold-tissues of many sorts, as well as other kinds of industry. There is nothing else worth mentioning, and so we will proceed and tell you of a noble city which is the capital of a kingdom, and is called Kenjanfu. NOTE 1.—_Ḳará-Muren_, or Black River, is one of the names applied by the Mongols to the Hwang Ho, or Yellow River, of the Chinese, and is used by all the mediæval western writers, _e.g._ Odoric, John Marignolli, Rashiduddin. The River, where it skirts Shan-si, is for the most part difficult both of access and of passage, and ill adapted to navigation, owing to the violence of the stream. Whatever there is of navigation is confined to the transport of coal down-stream from Western Shan-si, in large flats. Mr. Elias, who has noted the River’s level by aneroid at two points 920 miles apart, calculated the fall over that distance, which includes the contour of Shan-si, at 4 feet per mile. The best part for navigation is above this, from Ning-hia to Chaghan Kuren (in about 110° E. long.), in which Captain Prjevalski’s observations give a fall of less than 6 inches per mile. (_Richthofen_, _Letter_ VII. 25; _Williamson_, I. 69; _J. R. G. S._ XLIII. p. 115; _Petermann_, 1873, pp. 89–91.) [On 5th January, 1889, Mr. Rockhill coming to the Yellow River from P’ing-yang, found (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 17) that “the river was between 500 and 600 yards wide, a sluggish, muddy stream, then covered with floating ice about a foot thick.... The Yellow River here is shallow, in the main channel only is it four or five feet deep.” The Rev. C. Holcombe, who crossed in October, says (p. 65): that “it was nowhere more than 6 feet deep, and on returning, three of the boatmen sprang into the water in midstream and waded ashore, carrying a line from the ferry-boat to prevent us from rapidly drifting down with the current. The water was just up to their hips.”—H. C.] NOTE 2.—It is remarkable that the abundance of silk in Shan-si and Shen-si is so distinctly mentioned in these chapters, whereas now there is next to no silk at all grown in these districts. Is this the result of a change of climate, or only a commercial change? Baron Richthofen, to whom I have referred the question, believes it to be due to the former cause: “No tract in China would appear to have suffered so much by a change of climate as Shen-si and Southern Shan-si.” [See pp. 11–12.] NOTE 3.—The _asper_ or _akché_ (both meaning “white”) of the Mongols at Tana or Azov I have elsewhere calculated, from Pegolotti’s data (_Cathay_, p. 298), to have contained about 0_s._ 2·8_d._ worth of silver, which is _less_ than the grosso; but the name may have had a loose application to small silver coins in other countries of Asia. Possibly the money intended may have been the 50 _tsien_ note. (See note 1, ch. xxiv. _supra_.) CHAPTER XLI. CONCERNING THE CITY OF KENJANFU. And when you leave the city of Cachanfu of which I have spoken, and travel eight days westward, you meet with cities and boroughs abounding in trade and industry, and quantities of beautiful trees, and gardens, and fine plains planted with mulberries, which are the trees on the leaves of which the silkworms do feed.{1} The people are all Idolaters. There is also plenty of game of all sorts, both of beasts and birds. And when you have travelled those eight days’ journey, you come to that great city which I mentioned, called KENJANFU.{2} A very great and fine city it is, and the capital of the kingdom of Kenjanfu, which in old times was a noble, rich, and powerful realm, and had many great and wealthy and puissant kings.{3} But now the king thereof is a prince called MANGALAI, the son of the Great Kaan, who hath given him this realm, and crowned him king thereof.{4} It is a city of great trade and industry. They have great abundance of silk, from which they weave cloths of silk and gold of divers kinds, and they also manufacture all sorts of equipments for an army. They have every necessary of man’s life very cheap. The city lies towards the west; the people are Idolaters; and outside the city is the palace of the Prince Mangalai, crowned king, and son of the Great Kaan, as I told you before. This is a fine palace and a great, as I will tell you. It stands in a great plain abounding in lakes and streams and springs of water. Round about it is a massive and lofty wall, five miles in compass, well built, and all garnished with battlements. And within this wall is the king’s palace, so great and fine that no one could imagine a finer. There are in it many great and splendid halls, and many chambers, all painted and embellished with work in beaten gold. This Mangalai rules his realm right well with justice and equity, and is much beloved by his people. The troops are quartered round about the palace, and enjoy the sport (that the royal demesne affords). So now let us quit this kingdom, and I will tell you of a very mountainous province called Cuncun, which you reach by a road right wearisome to travel. NOTE 1.—[“_Morus alba_ is largely grown in North China for feeding silkworms.” (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 4.)—H. C.] NOTE 2.—Having got to sure ground again at Kenjanfu, which is, as we shall explain presently, the city of SI-NGAN FU, capital of Shen-si, let us look back at the geography of the route from P’ing-yang fu. Its difficulties are great. The traveller carries us two days’ journey from P’ing-yang fu to his castle of the Golden King. This is called in the G. Text and most other MSS. _Caicui_, _Caytui_, or the like, but in Ramusio alone _Thaigin_. He then carries us 20 miles further to the Caramoran; he crosses this river, travels two days further, and reaches the great city Cachanfu; eight days more (or as in Ramusio _seven_) bring him to Si-ngan fu. There seems scarcely room for doubt that CACHANFU is the HO-CHUNG FU [the ancient capital of Emperor Shun—H. C.] of those days, now called P’U-CHAU FU, close to the great elbow of the Hwang Ho (_Klaproth_). But this city, instead of being _two days west_ of the great river, stands _near_ its _eastern_ bank. [The Rev. C. Holcombe writes (pp. 64–65): “P’u-chau fu lies on a level with the Yellow River, and on the edge of a large extent of worthless marsh land, full of pools of brackish, and in some places, positively salt water.... The great road does not pass into the town, having succeeded in maintaining its position on the high ground from which the town has _backslided_.... The great road keeping to the bluff, runs on, turning first south, and then a trifle to the east of south, until the road, the bluff, and Shan-si, all end together, making a sudden plunge down a precipice and being lost in the dirty waters of the Yellow River.”—H. C.] Not maintaining the infallibility of our traveller’s memory, we may conceive confusion here, between the recollections of his journey westward and those of his return; but this does not remove all the difficulties. The most notable fortress of the Kin sovereigns was that of T’ungkwan, on the right bank of the river, 25 miles below P’u-chau fu, and closing the passage between the river and the mountains, just where the boundaries of Ho-nan, Shan-si, and Shen-si meet. It was constantly the turning-point of the Mongol campaigns against that Dynasty, and held a prominent place in the dying instructions of Chinghiz for the prosecution of the conquest of Cathay. This fortress must have continued famous to Polo’s time—indeed it continues so still, the strategic position being one which nothing short of a geological catastrophe could impair,—but I see no way of reconciling its position with his narrative. [Illustration: Plan of Ki-chau, after Duhalde.] The _name_ in Ramusio’s form might be merely that of the Dynasty, viz. _Tai-Kin_ = Great Golden. But we have seen that Thaigin is not the only reading. That of the MSS. seems to point rather to some name like _Kaichau_. A hypothesis which has seemed to me to call for least correction in the text is that the castle was at the _Ki-chau_ of the maps, nearly due west of P’ing-yang fu, and just about 20 miles from the Hwang Ho; that the river was crossed in that vicinity, and that the traveller then descended the valley to opposite P’u-chau fu, or possibly embarked and descended the river itself to that point. This last hypothesis would mitigate the apparent disproportion in the times assigned to the different parts of the journey, and would, I think, clear the text of error. But it is only a hypothesis. There is near Ki-chau one of the easiest crossing places of the River, insomuch that since the Shen-si troubles a large garrison has been kept up at Ki-chau to watch it.[1] And this is the only direction in which two days’ march, at Polo’s rate, would bring him within 20 miles of the Yellow River. Whether there is any historic castle at Ki-chau I know not; the plan of that place in Duhalde, however, has the aspect of a strong position. Baron v. Richthofen is unable to accept this suggestion, and has favoured me with some valuable remarks on this difficult passage, which I slightly abridge:— “The difficulties are, (1) that for either reading, _Thaigin_ or _Caichu_, a corresponding place can be found; (2) in the position of _Cachanfu_, setting both at naught. “_Thaigin_. There are two passages of the Yellow River near its great bend. One is at T’ungkwan, where I crossed it; the other, and more convenient, is at the fortress of Taiching-kwan, locally pronounced _Taigin_-kwan. This fortress, or rather fortified camp, is a very well-known place, and to be found on native maps; it is very close to the river, on the left bank, about 6 m. S.W. of P’u-chau fu. The road runs hence to Tung-chau fu and thence to Si-ngan fu. T’aiching-kwan could not possibly (at Polo’s rate) be reached in 2 days from P’ing-yang fu. “_Caichu_. If this reading be adopted Marsden may be right in supposing _Kiai-chau_, locally _Khaidju_, to be meant. This city dominates the important salt marsh, whence Shan-si and Shen-si are supplied with salt. It is 70 or 80 m. from P’ing-yang fu, but _could_ be reached in 2 days. It commands a large and tolerably populous plain, and is quite fit to have been an imperial residence. “May not the striking fact that there is a place corresponding to either name suggest that one of them was passed by Polo in going, the other in returning? and that, this being the only locality between Ch’êng-tu fu and Chu-chau where there was any deviation between the two journeys, his geographical ideas may have become somewhat confused, as might now happen to any one in like case and not provided with a map? Thus the traveller himself might have put into Ramusio’s text the name of _Thaigin_ instead of _Caichu_. From Kiai-chau he would probably cross the River at T’ungkwan, whilst in returning by way of Taiching-kwan he would pass through P’uchau-fu (or _vice versâ_). The question as to Caichu may still be settled, as it must be possible to ascertain where the Kin resided.”[2] [Mr. Rockhill writes (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 17): “One hundred and twenty _li_ south-south-west of the city is Kiai Chou, with the largest salt works in China.” Richthofen has estimated that about 150,000 tons of salt are produced annually from the marshes around it.—H. C.] NOTE 3.—The eight days’ journey through richly cultivated plains run up the basin of the Wei River, the most important agricultural region of North-West China, and the core of early Chinese History. The _löss_ is here more than ever predominant, its yellow tinge affecting the whole landscape, and even the atmosphere. Here, according to Baron v. Richthofen, originated the use of the word _hwang_ “yellow,” as the symbol of the Earth, whence the primeval emperors were styled _Hwang-ti_, “Lord of the Earth,” but properly “Lord of the _Löss_.” [The Rev. C. Holcombe (_l.c._ p. 66) writes: “From T’ung-kwan to Si-ngan fu, the road runs in a direction nearly due west, through a most lovely section of country, having a range of high hills upon the south, and the Wei River on the north. The road lies through one long orchard, and the walled towns and cities lie thickly along, for the most part at a little distance from the highway.” Mr. Rockhill says (_Land of the Lamas_, pp. 19–20): “The road between T’ung-kwan and Si-ngan fu, a distance of 110 miles, is a fine highway—for China—with a ditch on either side, rows of willow-trees here and there, and substantial stone bridges and culverts over the little streams which cross it. The basin of the Wei ho, in which this part of the province lies, has been for thousands of years one of the granaries of China. It was the colour of its loess-covered soil, called ‘yellow earth’ by the Chinese, that suggested the use of yellow as the colour sacred to imperial majesty. Wheat and sorghum are the principal crops, but we saw also numerous paddy fields where flocks of flamingoes were wading, and fruit-trees grew everywhere.”—H. C.] Kenjanfu, or, as Ramusio gives it, Quenzanfu, is SI-NGAN FU, or as it was called in the days of its greatest fame, Chang-ngan, probably the most celebrated city in Chinese history, and the capital of several of the most potent dynasties. It was the metropolis of Shi Hwang-ti of the T’sin Dynasty, properly the first emperor and whose conquests almost intersected those of his contemporary Ptolemy Euergetes. It was, perhaps, the _Thinae_ of Claudius Ptolemy, as it was certainly the Khumdán[3] of the early Mahomedans, and the site of flourishing Christian Churches in the 7th century, as well as of the remarkable monument, the discovery of which a thousand years later disclosed their forgotten existence.[4] _Kingchao-fu_ was the name which the city bore when the Mongol invasions brought China into communication with the west, and Klaproth supposes that this was modified by the Mongols into KENJANFU. Under the latter name it is mentioned by Rashiduddin as the seat of one of the Twelve _Sings_ or great provincial administrations, and we find it still known by this name in Sharífuddin’s history of Timur. The same name is traceable in the _Kansan_ of Odoric, which he calls the second best province in the world, and the best populated. Whatever may have been the origin of the name _Kenjanfu_, Baron v. Richthofen was, on the spot, made aware of its conservation in the exact form of the Ramusian Polo. The Roman Catholic missionaries there emphatically denied that Marco could ever have been at Si-ngan fu, or that the city had ever been known by such a name as Kenjan-fu. On this the Baron called in one of the Chinese pupils of the Mission, and asked him directly what had been the name of the city under the Yuen Dynasty. He replied at once with remarkable clearness: “QUEN-ZAN-FU.” Everybody present was struck by the exact correspondence of the Chinaman’s pronunciation of the name with that which the German traveller had adopted from Ritter. [Illustration: _Reduced Facsimile of the celebrated Christian Inscription of Singanfu, in Chinese and Syriac Characters_. _Photo-lithograph, from a Rubbing._ W. GRIGGS, PHOTO-LITH.] [The vocabulary _Hweï Hwei_ (Mahomedan) of the College of Interpreters at Peking transcribes King chao from the Persian Kin-chang, a name it gives to the Shen-si province. King chao was called Ngan-si fu in 1277. (_Devéria, Epigraphie_, p. 9.) Ken-jan comes from Kin-chang = King-chao = Si-ngan fu.—H. C.] Martini speaks, apparently from personal knowledge, of the splendour of the city, as regards both its public edifices and its site, sloping gradually up from the banks of the River Wei, so as to exhibit its walls and palaces at one view like the interior of an amphitheatre. West of the city was a sort of Water Park, enclosed by a wall 30 _li_ in circumference, full of lakes, tanks, and canals from the Wei, and within this park were seven fine palaces and a variety of theatres and other places of public diversion. To the south-east of the city was an artificial lake with palaces, gardens, park, etc., originally formed by the Emperor Hiaowu (B.C. 100), and to the south of the city was another considerable lake called _Fan_. This may be the Fanchan Lake, beside which Rashid says that Ananda, the son of Mangalai, built his palace. The adjoining districts were the seat of a large Musulman population, which in 1861–1862 [and again in 1895 (See _Wellby, Tibet_, ch. xxv.)—H. C.] rose in revolt against the Chinese authority, and for a time was successful in resisting it. The capital itself held out, though invested for two years; the rebels having no artillery. The movement originated at Hwachau, some 60 miles east of Si-ngan fu, now totally destroyed. But the chief seat of the Mahomedans is a place which they call _Salar_, identified with Hochau in Kansuh, about 70 miles south-west of Lanchau-fu, the capital of that province. [Mr. Rockhill (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 40) writes: “Colonel Yule, quoting a Russian work, has it that the word Salar is used to designate Ho-chou, but this is not absolutely accurate. Prjevalsky (_Mongolia_, II. 149) makes the following complicated statement: ‘The Karatangutans outnumber the Mongols in Koko-nor, but their chief habitations are near the sources of the Yellow River, where they are called Salirs; they profess the Mohammedan religion, and have rebelled against China.’ I will only remark here that the Salar have absolutely no connection with the so-called Kara-tangutans, who are Tibetans. In a note by Archimandrite Palladius, in the same work (II. 70), he attempts to show a connection between the Salar and a colony of Mohammedans who settled in Western Kan-Suh in the last century, but the _Ming shih_ (History of the Ming Dynasty) already makes mention of the Salar, remnants of various Turkish tribes (_Hsi-ch’iang_) who had settled in the districts of Ho-chou, Huang-chou, T’ao-chou, and Min-chou, and who were a source of endless trouble to the Empire. (See _Wei Yuen, Sheng-wu-ki_, vii. 35; also _Huang ch’ing shih kung t’u_, v. 7.) The Russian traveller, Potanin, found the Salar living in twenty-four villages, near Hsün-hua t’ing, on the south bank of the Yellow River. (See _Proc. R. G. S._ ix. 234.) The Annals of the Ming Dynasty (_Ming Shíh_, ch. 330) say that An-ting wei, 1500 _li_ south-west of Kan-chou, was in old times known as _Sa-li Wei-wu-ehr_. These Sari Uigurs are mentioned by Du Plan Carpin, as _Sari_ Huiur. Can _Sala_ be the same as _Sari_?” “Mohammedans,” says Mr. Rockhill (_Ibid._ p. 39), “here are divided into two sects, known as ‘white-capped Hui-hui,’ and ‘black-capped Hui-hui.’ One of the questions which separate them is the hour at which fast can be broken during the Ramadan. Another point which divides them is that the white-capped burn incense, as do the ordinary Chinese; and the Salar condemn this as Paganish. The usual way by which one finds out to which sect a Mohammedan belongs is by asking him if he burns incense. The black-capped Hui-hui are more frequently called _Salar_, and are much the more devout and fanatical. They live in the vicinity of Ho-chou, in and around Hsün-hua t’ing, their chief town being known as Salar Pakun or Paken.” [Illustration: Cross on the Monument at Si-ngan fu. (From a rubbing.)] Ho-chou, in Western Kan-Suh, about 320 _li_ (107 miles) from Lan-chau, has a population of about 30,000 nearly entirely Mahomedans with 24 mosques; it is a “hot-bed of rebellion.” _Salar-pa-kun_ means “the eight thousand Salar families,” or “the eight thousands of the Salar.” The eight _kiun_ (Chinese _t’sun_? a village, a commune) constituting the Salar pa-kun are Kä-tzŭ, the oldest and largest, said to have over 1300 families living in it, Chang-chia, Némen, Ch’ing-shui, Munta, Tsu-chi, Antasu and Ch’a-chia. Besides these Salar kiun there are five outer (_wai_) kiun: Ts’a-pa, Ngan-ssŭ-to, Hei-ch’eng, Kan-tu and Kargan, inhabited by a few Salar and a mixed population of Chinese and T’u-ssŭ: each of these wai-wu kiun has, theoretically, fifteen villages in it. Tradition says that the first Salar who came to China (from Rúm or Turkey) arrived in this valley in the third year of Hung-wu of the Ming (1370). (_Rockhill, Land of the Lamas, Journey; Grenard_, II. p. 457)—H. C.] (_Martini; Cathay_, 148, 269; _Pétis de la Croix_, III. 218; _Russian paper on the Dungen_, see _supra_, vol. i. p. 291; _Williamson’s North China_, u.s.; _Richthofen’s Letters_, and MS. Notes.) NOTE 4.—_Mangalai_, Kúblái’s third son, who governed the provinces of Shen-si and Sze-ch’wan, with the title of _Wang_ or king (_supra_ ch. ix. note 2), died in 1280, a circumstance which limits the date of Polo’s journey to the west. It seems unlikely that Marco should have remained ten years ignorant of his death, yet he seems to speak of him as still governing. [With reference to the translation of the oldest of the Chinese-Mongol inscriptions known hitherto (1283) in the name of Ananda, King of Ngan-si, Professor Devéria (_Notes d’Épigraphie Mongolo-Chinoise_, p. 9) writes: “In 1264, the Emperor Kúbláï created in this region [Shen si] the department of Ngan-si chau, occupied by ten hordes of Si-fan (foreigners from the west). All this country became in 1272, the apanage of the Imperial Prince Mangala; this prince, third son of Kúbláï, had been invested with the title of King of Ngan-si, a territory which included King-chao fu (modern Si-ngan fu). His government extended hence over Ho-si (west of the Yellow River), the T’u-po (Tibetans), and Sze-ch’wan. The following year (1273) Mangala received from Kúbláï a second investiture, this of the Kingdom of Tsin, which added to his domain part of Kan-Suh; he established his royal residence at K’ia-ch’eng (modern Ku-yuan) in the Liu-p’an shan, while King-chao remained the centre of the command he exercised over the Mongol garrisons. In 1277 this prince took part in military operations in the north; he died in 1280 (17th year Che Yuan), leaving his principality of Ngan-si to his eldest son Ananda, and this of Tsin to his second son Ngan-tan Bu-hoa. Kúbláï, immediately after the death of his son Mangala, suppressed administrative autonomy in Ngan-si.” (_Yuan-shi lei pien_).—H. C.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] I am indebted for this information to Baron Richthofen. [2] See the small map attached to “Marco Polo’s Itinerary Map, No. IV.,” at end of vol. i. [3] [It is supposed to come from _kang_ (king) _dang_.—H. C.] [4] In the first edition I was able to present a reduced facsimile of a _rubbing_ in my possession from this famous inscription, which I owed to the generosity of Dr. Lockhart. To the Baron von Richthofen I am no less indebted for the more complete rubbing which has afforded the plate now published. A tolerably full account of this inscription is given in _Cathay_, p. xcii. _seqq._, and p. clxxxi. _seqq._, but the subject is so interesting that it seems well to introduce here the most important particulars:— The stone slab, about 7½ feet high by 3 feet wide, and some 10 inches in thickness,[A] which bears this inscription, was accidentally found in 1625 by some workmen who were digging in the Chang-ngan suburb of the city of Singanfu. The cross, which is engraved at p. 30, is incised at the top of the slab, and beneath this are 9 large characters in 3 columns, constituting the heading, which runs: “_Monument commemorating the introduction and propagation of the noble Law of_ Ta T’sin _in the Middle Kingdom;_” _Ta T’sin_ being the term applied in Chinese literature to the Roman Empire, of which the ancient Chinese had much such a shadowy conception as the Romans had, conversely, of the Chinese as _Sinae_ and _Seres_. Then follows the body of the inscription, of great length and beautiful execution, consisting of 1780 characters. Its chief contents are as follows:— 1st. An abstract of Christian doctrine, of a vague and figurative kind; 2nd. An account of the arrival of the missionary OLOPĂN (probably a Chinese form of _Rabban_ = Monk),[B] from Ta T’sin in the year equivalent to A.D. 635, bringing sacred books and images; of the _translation of the said books_; of the Imperial approval of the doctrine and permission to teach it publicly. There follows a decree of the Emperor (T’ai Tsung, a very famous prince) issued in 638, in favour of the new doctrine, and ordering a church to be built in the Square of Peace and Justice (_I-ning Fang_), at the capital. The Emperor’s portrait was to be placed in the church. After this comes a description of Ta T’sin (here apparently implying Syria); and then some account of the fortunes of the Church in China. Kao Tsung (650–683, the devout patron also of the Buddhist traveller and Dr. Hiuen Tsang) continued to favour it. In the end of the century, Buddhism gets the upper hand, but under HIUAN-TSUNG (713–755) the Church recovers its prestige, and KIHO, a new missionary, arrives. Under TE-TSUNG (780–783) the monument was erected, and this part ends with the eulogy of ISSÉ, a statesman and benefactor of the Church. 3rd. There follows a recapitulation of the purport in octosyllabic verse. The Chinese inscription concludes with the date of erection, viz. the second year _Kienchung_ of the Great T’ang Dynasty, the seventh day of the month _Tait’su_, the feast of the great _Yaosan_. This corresponds, according to Gaubil, to 4th February, 781; and _Yaosan_ is supposed to stand for _Hosanna_ (_i.e._ Palm Sunday; but this apparently does not fit; see _infra_). There are added the name chief of the law, NINGCHU (presumed to be the Chinese name of the Metropolitan), the name of the writer, and the official sanction. The _Great Hosanna_ was, though ingenious, a misinterpretation of Gaubil’s. Mr. Wylie has sent me a paper of his own (in _Chin. Recorder and Miss. Journal_, July, 1871, p. 45), which makes things perfectly clear. The expression transcribed by Pauthier, _Yao-săn-wen_, and rendered “Hosanna,” appears in a Chinese work, without reference to this inscription, as _Yao-săn-wăh_, and is in reality only a Chinese transcript of the Persian word for Sunday, “_Yak-shambah_.” Mr. Wylie verified this from the mouth of a Peking Mahomedan. The 4th of February, 781 _was_ Sunday; why _Great_ Sunday? Mr. Wylie suggests, possibly because the first Sunday of the (Chinese) year. The monument exhibits, in addition to the Chinese text, a series of short inscriptions in the Syriac language, and _Estranghelo_ character, containing the date of erection, viz. 1092 of the Greeks (= A.D. 781), the name of the reigning Patriarch of the Nestorian church MAR HANAN ISHUA (dead in 778, but the fact apparently had not reached China), that of ADAM, Bishop and Pope of Tzinisthán (_i.e._ China), and those of the clerical staff of the capital which here bears the name, given it by the early Arab Travellers, of _Kúmdán_. There follow sixty-seven names of persons in Syriac characters, most of whom are characterised as priests (_Kashíshá_), and sixty-one names of persons in Chinese, all priests save one. [It appears that Adam (_King-tsing_), who erected the monument under Te-Tsung was, under the same Emperor, with a Buddhist the translator of a Buddhist sûtra, the Saṭpâramitâ from a Hu text. (See a curious paper by Mr. J. Takakusu in the _T’oung Pao_, VII pp. 589–591.) Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 157, _note_) makes the following remarks. “It is strange, however, that the two famous Uigur Nestorians, Mar Jabalaha and Rabban Cauma, when on their journey from Koshang in Southern Shan-hsi to Western Asia in about 1276, while they mention ‘the city of Tangut,’ or Ning-hsia on the Yellow River as an important Nestorian centre, do not once refer to Hsi-anfu or Chang-an. Had Chang-an been at the time the Nestorian Episcopal see, one would think that these pilgrims would have visited it, or at least referred to it. (_Chabot, Mar Jabalaha_, 21)”—H. C.] Kircher gives a good many more Syriac names than appear on the rubbing, probably because some of these are on the edge of the slab now built in. We have no room to speak of the controversies raised by this stone. The most able defence of its genuine character, as well as a transcript with translation and commentary, a work of great interest, was published by the late M. Pauthier. The monument exists intact, and has been visited by the Rev. Mr. Williamson, Baron Richthofen, and other recent travellers. [The Rev. Moir Duncan wrote from Shen-si regarding the present state of the stone. (_London and China Telegraph_, 5th June, 1893): “Of the covering rebuilt so recently, not a trace remains save the pedestals for the pillars and atoms of the tiling. In answer to a question as to when and how the covering was destroyed, the old priest replied, with a twinkle in his eye as if his conscience pinched, ‘There came a rushing wind and blew it down.’ He could not say when, for he paid no attention to such mundane affairs. More than one outsider however, said it had been deliberately destroyed, because the priests are jealous of the interest manifested in it.... The stone has evidently been recently tampered with, several characters are effaced and there are other signs of malicious hands.”—H. C.] Pauthier’s works on the subject are—_De l’Authenticité de l’Inscription Nestorienne_, etc., B. Duprat, 1857; and _l’Inscription Syro-Chinoise de Si-ngan-fou_, etc., Firmin Didot, 1858. (See also _Kircher, China Illustrata_; and article by Mr. Wylie in _J. Am. Or. Soc._, V. 278.) [Father Havret, S.J., of Zi-ka-wei, near Shang-hai, has undertaken to write a large work on this inscription with the title of _La Stèle Chrétienne de Si-ngan-fou_; the first part giving the inscription in full size, and the second containing the history of the monument, have been published at Shang-hai in 1895 and 1897; the author died last year (29th September, 1901), and the translation which was to form a third part has not yet appeared. The Rev. Dr. J. Legge has given a translation and the Chinese text of the monument, in 1888.—H. C.] Stone monuments of character strictly analogous are frequent in the precincts of Buddhist sanctuaries, and probably the idea of this one was taken from the Buddhists. It is reasonably supposed by Pauthier that the monument may have been buried in 845, when the Emperor Wu-Tsung issued an edict, still extant, against the vast multiplication of Buddhist convents, and ordering their destruction. A clause in the edict also orders the _foreign bonzes of Ta-T’sin_ and _Mubupa_ (Christian and _Mobed_ or Magian?) _to return to secular life_. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [A] [M. Grenard, who reproduces (III. p. 152) a good facsimile of the inscription, gives to the slab the following dimensions: high 2m. 36, wide 0m. 86, thick 0m. 25.—H. C.] [B] [Dr. F. Hirth (_China and the Roman Orient_, p. 323) writes: “O-LO-PÊN = Ruben, Rupen?” He adds (_Jour. China Br. R. As. Soc._ XXI. 1886, pp. 214–215): “Initial _r_ is also quite commonly represented by initial _l_. I am in doubt whether the two characters _o-lo_ in the Chinese name for Russia (_O-lo-ssŭ_) stand for foreign _ru_ or _ro_ alone. This word would bear comparison with a Chinese transcription of the Sanskrit word for silver, _rūpya_, which in the _Pen-ts’ao-kang-mu_ (ch. 8, p. 9) is given as _o-lu-pa_. If we can find further analogies, this may help us to read that mysterious word in the Nestorian stone inscription, being the name of the first Christian missionary who carried the cross to China, _O-lo-pên_, as ‘Ruben’. This was indeed a common name among the Nestorians, for which reason I would give it the preference over Pauthier’s Syriac ‘Alopeno’. But Father Havret (_Stèle Chrétienne_, Leide, 1897, p. 26) objects to Dr. Hirth that the Chinese character _lo_, to which he gives the sound _ru_, is not to be found as a Sanskrit phonetic element in Chinese characters, but that this phonetic element _ru_ is represented by the Chinese characters pronounced _lu_, and therefore, he, Father Havret, adopts Colonel Yule’s opinion as the only one being fully satisfactory.”—H. C.] CHAPTER XLII. CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUNCUN, WHICH IS RIGHT WEARISOME TO TRAVEL THROUGH. On leaving the Palace of Mangalai, you travel westward for three days, finding a succession of cities and boroughs and beautiful plains, inhabited by people who live by trade and industry, and have great plenty of silk. At the end of those three days, you reach the great mountains and valleys which belong to the province of CUNCUN.{1} There are towns and villages in the land, and the people live by tilling the earth, and by hunting in the great woods; for the region abounds in forests, wherein are many wild beasts, such as lions, bears, lynxes, bucks and roes, and sundry other kinds, so that many are taken by the people of the country, who make a great profit thereof. So this way we travel over mountains and valleys, finding a succession of towns and villages, and many great hostelries for the entertainment of travellers, interspersed among extensive forests. NOTE 1.—The region intended must necessarily be some part of the southern district of the province of Shen-si, called HAN-CHUNG, the axis of which is the River Han, closed in by exceedingly mountainous and woody country to north and south, dividing it on the former quarter from the rest of Shen-si, and on the latter from Sze-ch’wan. Polo’s _C_ frequently expresses an _H_, especially the Guttural _H_ of Chinese names, yet _Cuncun_ is not satisfactory as the expression of _Hanchung_. The country was so ragged that in ancient times travellers from Si-ngan fu had to make a long circuit eastward by the frontier of Ho-nan to reach Han-chung; but, at an early date, a road was made across the mountains for military purposes; so long ago indeed that various eras and constructors are assigned to it. Padre Martini’s authorities ascribed it to a general in the service of Liu Pang, the founder of the first Han Dynasty (B.C. 202), and this date is current in Shan-si, as Baron v. Richthofen tells me. But in Sze-ch’wan the work is asserted to have been executed during the 3rd century, when China was divided into several states, by Liu Pei, of the Han family, who, about A.D. 226, established himself as Emperor [Minor Han] of Western China at Ch’êng-tu fu.[1] This work, with its difficulties and boldness, extending often for great distances on timber corbels inserted in the rock, is vividly described by Martini. Villages and rest-houses were established at convenient distances. It received from the Chinese the name of _Chien-tao_, or the “Pillar Road.” It commenced on the west bank of the Wei, opposite Pao-ki h’ien, 100 miles west of Si-ngan fu, and ended near the town of Paoching-h’ien, some 15 or 20 miles north-west from Han-chung. We are told that Tului, the son of Chinghiz, when directing his march against Ho-nan in 1231 by this very line from Paoki, had to _make_ a road with great difficulty; but, as we shall see presently, this can only mean that the ancient road had fallen into decay, and had to be repaired. The same route was followed by Okkodai’s son Kutan, in marching to attack the Sung Empire in 1235, and again by Mangku Kaan on his last campaign in 1258. These circumstances show that the road from Paoki was in that age the usual route into Han-chung and Sze-ch’wan; indeed there is no other road in that direction that is more than a mere jungle-track, and we may be certain that this was Polo’s route. This remarkable road was traversed by Baron v. Richthofen in 1872. To my questions, he replies: “The entire route is a work of tremendous engineering, and all of this was done by Liu Pei, who first ordered the construction. The hardest work consisted in cutting out long portions of the road from solid rock, chiefly where ledges project on the verge of a river, as is frequently the case on the He-lung Kiang.... It had been done so thoroughly from the first, that scarcely any additions had to be made in after days. Another kind of work which generally strikes tourists like Father Martini, or Chinese travellers, is the poling up of the road on the sides of steep cliffs[2].... Extensive cliffs are frequently rounded in this way, and imagination is much struck with the perils of walking on the side of a precipice, with the foaming river below. When the timbers rot, such passages of course become obstructed, and thus the road is said to have been periodically in complete disuse. The repairs, which were chiefly made in the time of the Ming, concerned especially passages of this sort.” Richthofen also notices the abundance of game; but inhabited places appear to be rarer than in Polo’s time. (See _Martini_ in _Blaeu_; _Chine Ancienne_, p. 234; _Ritter_, IV. 520; _D’Ohsson_, II. 22, 80, 328; _Lecomte_, II. 95; _Chin. Rep._ XIX. 225; _Richthofen_, _Letter_ VII. p. 42, and MS. Notes). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] The last is also stated by Klaproth. Ritter has overlooked the discrepancy of the dates (B.C. and A.D.) and has supposed Liu Pei and Liu Pang to be the same. The resemblance of the names, and the fact that both princes were founders of Han Dynasties, give ample room for confusion. [2] See cut from Mr. Cooper’s book at p. 51 below. This so exactly illustrates Baron R.’s description that I may omit the latter. CHAPTER XLIII. CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ACBALEC MANZI. After you have travelled those 20 days through the mountains of CUNCUN that I have mentioned, then you come to a province called ACBALEC MANZI, which is all level country, with plenty of towns and villages, and belongs to the Great Kaan. The people are Idolaters, and live by trade and industry. I may tell you that in this province, there grows such a great quantity of ginger, that it is carried all over the region of Cathay, and it affords a maintenance to all the people of the province, who get great gain thereby. They have also wheat and rice, and other kinds of corn, in great plenty and cheapness; in fact the country abounds in all useful products. The capital city is called ACBALEC MANZI [which signifies “the White City of the Manzi Frontier”].{1} This plain extends for two days’ journey, throughout which it is as fine as I have told you, with towns and villages as numerous. After those two days, you again come to great mountains and valleys, and extensive forests, and you continue to travel westward through this kind of country for 20 days, finding however numerous towns and villages. The people are Idolaters, and live by agriculture, by cattle-keeping, and by the chase, for there is much game. And among other kinds, there are the animals that produce the musk, in great numbers.{2} NOTE 1.—Though the termini of the route, described in these two chapters, are undoubtedly Si-ngan fu and Ch’êng-tu fu, there are serious difficulties attending the determination of the line actually followed. The time according to all the MSS., so far as I know, except those of one type, is as follows: In the plain of Kenjanfu 3 days. In the mountains of Cuncun 20 „ In the plain of Acbalec 2 „ In mountains again 20 „ —— 45 days. —— [From Si-ngan fu to Ch’êng-tu (Sze-ch’wan), the Chinese reckon 2300 _li_ (766 miles). (Cf. _Rockhill, Land of the Lamas_, p. 23.) Mr. G. F. Eaton, writing from Han-chung (_Jour. China Br. R. A. S._ xxviii. p. 29) reckons: “From Si-ngan Fu S.W. to Ch’êng-tu, _viâ_ K’i-shan, Fung-sien, Mien, Kwang-yuan and Chao-hwa, about 30 days, in chairs.” He says (p. 24): “From Ch’êng-tu _viâ_ Si-ngan to Peking the road does not touch Han-chung, but 20 _li_ west of the city strikes north to Pao-ch’eng.—The road from Han-chung to Ch’êng-tu made by Ts’in Shi Hwang-ti to secure his conquest of Sze-ch’wan, crosses the Ta-pa-shan.”—H. C.] It seems to me almost impossible to doubt that the Plain of Acbalec represents some part of the river-valley of the Han, interposed between the two ranges of mountains called by Richthofen _T’sing-Ling-Shan_ and _Ta-pa-Shan_. But the time, as just stated, is extravagant for anything like a direct journey between the two termini. The distance from Si-ngan fu to Pao-ki is 450 _li_, which _could_ be done in 3 days, but at Polo’s rate would probably require 5. The distance by the mountain road from Pao-ki to the Plain of Han-chung, could never have occupied 20 days. It is really a 6 or 7 days’ march. But Pauthier’s MS. C (and its double, the Bern MS.) has viii. marches instead of xx., through the mountains of Cuncun. This reduces the time between Kenjanfu and the Plain to 11 days, which is just about a proper allowance for the whole journey, though not accurately distributed. Two days, though ample, would not be excessive for the journey across the Plain of Han-chung, especially if the traveller visited that city. And “20 days from Han-chung, to Ch’êng-tu fu would correspond with Marco Polo’s rate of travel.” (_Richthofen_). So far then, provided we admit the reading of the MS. C, there is no ground for hesitating to adopt the usual route between the two cities, _viâ_ Han-chung. But the key to the exact route is evidently the position of Acbalec Manzi, and on this there is no satisfactory light. For the name of the province, Pauthier’s text has _Acbalec Manzi_, for the name of the city _Acmalec_ simply. The G. T. has in the former case _Acbalec Mangi_, in the latter “Acmelic Mangi _qe vaut dire_ le une _de le confine dou Mangi_.” This is followed literally by the Geographic Latin, which has “_Acbalec Mangi et est dictum in lingua nostra_ unus _ex confinibus Mangi_.” So also the Crusca; whilst Ramusio has “_Achbaluch Mangi, che vuol dire_ Città Bianca de’ confini di Mangi.” It is clear that Ramusio alone has here preserved the genuine reading. Klaproth identified Acbalec conjecturally with the town of _Pe-ma-ching_, or “White-Horse-Town,” a place now extinct, but which stood like Mien and Han-chung on the extensive and populous Plain that here borders the Han. It seems so likely that the latter part of the name _Pe_-MACHING (“_White_ Maching”) might have been confounded by foreigners with _Máchín_ and _Manzi_ (which in Persian parlance were identical), that I should be disposed to overlook the difficulty that we have no evidence produced to show that Pemaching was a place of any consequence. It is possible, however, that the name _Acbalec_ may have been given by the Tartars without any reference to Chinese etymologies. We have already twice met with the name or its equivalent (_Acbaluc_ in ch. xxxvii. of this Book, and _Chaghan Balghasun_ in note 3 to Book I. ch. lx.), whilst Strahlenberg tells us that the Tartars call all great residences of princes by this name (Amst. ed. 1757, I. p. 7). It may be that Han-chung itself was so named by the Tartars; though its only claim that I can find is, that it was the first residence of the Han Dynasty. Han-chung fu stands in a beautiful plain, which forms a very striking object to the traveller who is leaving the T’sing-ling mountains. Just before entering the plains, the Helung Kiang passes through one of its wildest gorges, a mere crevice between vertical walls several hundred feet high. The road winds to the top of one of the cliffs in zigzags cut in the solid rock. From the temple of Kitau Kwan, which stands at the top of the cliff, there is a magnificent view of the Plain, and no traveller would omit this, the most notable feature between the valley of the Wei and Ch’êng-tu-fu. It is, moreover, the only piece of level ground, of any extent, that is passed through between those two regions, whichever road or track be taken. (_Richthofen_, MS. Notes.) [In the _China Review_ (xiv. p. 358) Mr. E. H. Parker, has an article on _Acbalec Manzi_, but does not throw any new light on the subject.—H. C.] NOTE 2.—Polo’s journey now continues through the lofty mountainous region in the north of Sze-ch’wan. The dividing range Ta-pa-shan is less in height than the T’sing-ling range, but with gorges still more abrupt and deep; and it would be an entire barrier to communication but for the care with which the road, here also, has been formed. But this road, from Han-chung to Ch’êng-tu fu, is still older than that to the north, having been constructed, it is said, in the 3rd century B.C. [See _supra_.] Before that time Sze-ch’wan was a closed country, the only access from the north being the circuitous route down the Han and up the Yang-tz’ŭ. (_Ibid._) [Mr. G. G. Brown writes (_Jour. China Br. R. As. Soc._ xxviii. p. 53): “Crossing the Ta-pa-shan from the valley of the Upper Han in Shen-si we enter the province of Sze-ch’wan, and are now in a country as distinct as possible from that that has been left. The climate which in the north was at times almost Arctic, is now pluvial, and except on the summits of the mountains no snow is to be seen. The people are ethnologically different.... More even than the change of climate the geological aspect is markedly different. The loess, which in Shen-si has settled like a pall over the country, is here absent, and red sandstone rocks, filling the valleys between the high-bounding and intermediate ridges of palæozoic formation, take its place. Sze-ch’wan is evidently a region of rivers flowing in deeply eroded valleys, and as these find but one exit, the deep gorges of Kwei-fu, their disposition takes the form of the innervations of a leaf springing from a solitary stalk. The country between the branching valleys is eminently hilly; the rivers flow with rapid currents in well-defined valleys, and are for the most part navigable for boats, or in their upper reaches for lumber-rafts.... The horse-cart, which in the north and north-west of China is the principal means of conveyance, has never succeeded in gaining an entrance into Sze-ch’wan with its steep ascents and rapid unfordable streams; and is here represented for passenger traffic by the sedan-chair, and for the carriage of goods, with the exception of a limited number of wheel-barrows, by the backs of men or animals, unless where the friendly water-courses afford the cheapest and readiest means of intercourse.”—H. C.] Martini notes the musk-deer in northern Sze-ch’wan. CHAPTER XLIV. CONCERNING THE PROVINCE AND CITY OF SINDAFU. When you have travelled those 20 days westward through the mountains, as I have told you, then you arrive at a plain belonging to a province called Sindafu, which still is on the confines of Manzi, and the capital city of which is (also) called SINDAFU. This city was in former days a rich and noble one, and the Kings who reigned there were very great and wealthy. It is a good twenty miles in compass, but it is divided in the way that I shall tell you. You see the King of this Province, in the days of old, when he found himself drawing near to death, leaving three sons behind him, commanded that the city should be divided into three parts, and that each of his three sons should have one. So each of these three parts is separately walled about, though all three are surrounded by the common wall of the city. Each of the three sons was King, having his own part of the city, and his own share of the kingdom, and each of them in fact was a great and wealthy King. But the Great Kaan conquered the kingdom of these three Kings, and stripped them of their inheritance.{1} Through the midst of this great city runs a large river, in which they catch a great quantity of fish. It is a good half mile wide, and very deep withal, and so long that it reaches all the way to the Ocean Sea,—a very long way, equal to 80 or 100 days’ journey. And the name of the River is KIAN-SUY. The multitude of vessels that navigate this river is so vast, that no one who should read or hear the tale would believe it. The quantities of merchandize also which merchants carry up and down this river are past all belief. In fact, it is so big, that it seems to be a Sea rather than a River!{2} Let us now speak of a great Bridge which crosses this River within the city. This bridge is of stone; it is seven paces in width and half a mile in length (the river being that much in width as I told you); and all along its length on either side there are columns of marble to bear the roof, for the bridge is roofed over from end to end with timber, and that all richly painted. And on this bridge there are houses in which a great deal of trade and industry is carried on. But these houses are all of wood merely, and they are put up in the morning and taken down in the evening. Also there stands upon the bridge the Great Kaan’s _Comercque_, that is to say, his custom-house, where his toll and tax are levied.{3} And I can tell you that the dues taken on this bridge bring to the Lord a thousand pieces of fine gold every day and more. The people are all Idolaters.{4} When you leave this city you travel for five days across a country of plains and valleys, finding plenty of villages and hamlets, and the people of which live by husbandry. There are numbers of wild beasts, lions, and bears, and such like. I should have mentioned that the people of Sindu itself live by manufactures, for they make fine sendals and other stuffs.{5} After travelling those five days’ march, you reach a province called Tebet, which has been sadly laid waste; we will now say something of it. NOTE 1.—We are on firm ground again, for SINDAFU is certainly CH’ÊNG-TU FU, the capital of Sze-ch’wan. Probably the name used by Polo was _Sindu-fu_, as we find _Sindu_ in the G. T. near the end of the chapter. But the same city is, I observe, called _Thindafu_ by one of the Nepalese embassies, whose itineraries Mr. Hodgson has given in the _J. A. S. B._ XXV. 488. ┌────────────┐ │ │ ┌───┤ ┌───┐ │ │ B │ │ C │ A │ │ │ │ │ │ └───┤ └───┘ │ │ │ └────────────┘ A. The Great City. B. The Little City. C. The Imperial City. The modern French missions have a bishop in Ch’êng-tu fu, and the city has been visited of late years by Mr. T. T. Cooper, by Mr. A. Wylie, by Baron v. Richthofen, [Captain Gill, Mr. Baber, Mr. Hosie, and several other travellers]. Mr. Wylie has kindly favoured me with the following note:—“My notice all goes to corroborate Marco Polo. The covered bridge with the stalls is still there, the only difference being the absence of the toll-house. I did not see any traces of a tripartite division of the city, nor did I make any enquiries on the subject during the 3 or 4 days I spent there, as it was not an object with me at the time to verify Polo’s account. The city is indeed divided, but the division dates more than a thousand years back. It is something like this, I should say [see diagram].[1] “The Imperial City (_Hwang Ching_) was the residence of the monarch Lew Pé (_i.e._ Liu Pei of p. 32) during the short period of the ‘Three Kingdoms’ (3rd century), and some relics of the ancient edifice still remain. I was much interested in looking over it. It is now occupied by the Public Examination Hall and its dependencies.” I suspect Marco’s story of the Three Kings arose from a misunderstanding about this historical period of the _San-Kwé_, or Three Kingdoms (A.D. 222–264). And this tripartite division of the city may have been merely that which we see to exist at present. [Mr. Baber, leaving Ch’êng-tu, 26th July, 1877, writes (_Travels_, p. 28): “We took ship outside the East Gate on a rapid narrow stream, apparently the city moat, which soon joins the main river, a little below the An-shun Bridge, an antiquated wooden structure some 90 yards long. This is in all probability the bridge mentioned by Marco Polo. The too flattering description he gives of it leads one to suppose that the present handsome stone bridges of the province were unbuilt at the time of his journey.” Baber is here mistaken. Captain Gill writes (_l.c._ II. p. 9): “As Mr. Wylie in recent days had said that Polo’s covered bridge was still in its place, we went one day on an expedition in search of it. Polo, however, speaks of a bridge full half a mile long, whilst the longest now is but 90 yards. On our way we passed over a fine nine-arched stone bridge, called the Chin-Yen-Ch’iao. Near the covered bridge there is a very pretty view down the river.”—H. C.] Baron Richthofen observes that Ch’êng-tu is among the largest of Chinese cities, and is of all the finest and most refined. The population is called 800,000. The walls form a square of about 3 miles to the side, and there are suburbs besides. The streets are broad and straight, laid out at right angles, with a pavement of square flags very perfectly laid, slightly convex and drained at each side. The numerous commemorative arches are sculptured with skill; there is much display of artistic taste; and the people are remarkably civil to foreigners. This characterizes the whole province; and an air of wealth and refinement prevails even in the rural districts. The plain round Ch’êng-tu fu is about 90 miles in length (S.E. to N.W.), by 40 miles in width, with a copious irrigation and great fertility, so that in wealth and population it stands almost unrivalled. (_Letter_ VII. pp. 48–66.) [Illustration: PLAN OF CHENG-TU. _Églises ou Établissements français des “Missions étrangères”_ _Reproduction d’une carte chinoise_] [Mr. Baber (_Travels_, p. 26) gives the following information regarding the population of Ch’êng-tu: “The census of 1877 returned the number of families at about 70,000, and the total population at 330,000—190,000 being males and 140,000 females; but probably the extensive suburb was not included in the enumeration. Perhaps 350,000 would be a fair total estimate.” It is the seat of the Viceroy of the Sze-ch’wan province. Mr. Hosie says (_Three Years in Western China_, p. 86): “It is without exception the finest city I have seen in China; Peking and Canton will not bear comparison with it.” Captain Gill writes (_River of Golden Sand_, II. p. 4): “The city of Ch’êng-Tu is still a rich and noble one, somewhat irregular in shape, and surrounded by a strong wall, in a perfect state of repair. In this there are eight bastions, four being pierced by gates.” “It is one of the largest of Chinese cities, having a circuit of about 12 miles.” (_Baber_, p. 26.) “It is now three and a half miles long by about two and a half miles broad, the longest side lying about east-south-east, and west-north-west, so that its compass in the present day is about 12 miles.” (_Captain Gill_, II. p. 4.)—H. C.] NOTE 2.—Ramusio is more particular: “Through the city flow many great rivers, which come down from distant mountains, and run winding about through many parts of the city. These rivers vary in width from half a mile to 200 paces, and are very deep. Across them are built many bridges of stone,” etc. “And after passing the city these rivers unite and form one immense river called Kian,” etc. Here we have the Great River or KIANG, Kian (Quian) as in Ramusio, or KIANG-SHUI, “Waters of the Kiang,” as in the text. So Pauthier explains. [Mr. Baber remarks at Ch’êng-tu (_Travels_, p. 28): “When all allowance is made for the diminution of the river, one cannot help surmising that Marco Polo must have felt reluctant to call it the _Chiang-Sui_ or ‘Yangtzŭ waterway.’ He was, however, correct enough, as usual, for the Chinese consider it to be the main upper stream of the Yangtzŭ.”—H. C.] Though our Geographies give the specific names of Wen and Min to the great branch which flows by Ch’êng-tu fu, and treat the Tibetan branch which flows through northern Yunnan under the name of Kin sha or “Golden Sand,” as the main river, the Chinese seem always to have regarded the former as the true Kiang; as may be seen in Ritter (IV. 650) and Martini. The latter describes the city as quite insulated by the ramifications of the river, from which channels and canals pass all about it, adorned with many quays and bridges of stone. The numerous channels in reuniting form two rivers, one the Min, and the other the To-Kiang, which also joins the Yangtzŭ at Lu-chau. [In his _Introductory Essay to Captain Gill’s River of Golden Sand_, Colonel Yule (p. 37) writes: “Captain Gill has pointed out that, of the many branches of the river which ramify through the plain of Ch’êng-tu, no one now passes through the city at all corresponding in magnitude to that which Marco Polo describes, about 1283, as running through the midst of Sin-da-fu, ‘a good half-mile wide, and very deep withal.’ The largest branch adjoining the city now runs on the south side, but does not exceed a hundred yards in width; and though it is crossed by a covered bridge with huxters’ booths, more or less in the style described by Polo, it necessarily falls far short of his great bridge of half a mile in length. Captain Gill suggests that a change may have taken place in the last five (this should be _six_) centuries, owing to the deepening of the river-bed at its exit from the plain, and consequent draining of the latter. But I should think it more probable that the ramification of channels round Ch’êng-tu, which is so conspicuous even on a small general map of China, like that which accompanies this work, is in great part due to art; that the mass of the river has been drawn off to irrigate the plain; and that thus the wide river, which in the 13th century may have passed through the city, no unworthy representative of the mighty Kiang, has long since ceased, on that scale, to flow. And I have pointed out briefly that the fact, which Baron Richthofen attests, of an actual bifurcation of waters on a large scale taking place in the plain of Ch’êng-tu—one arm ‘branching east to form the To’ (as in the terse indication of the Yü-Kung)—viz. the To Kiang or Chung-Kiang flowing south-east to join the great river at Lu-chau, whilst another flows south to Sü-chau or Swi-fu, does render change in the distribution of the waters about the city highly credible.”] [See _Irrigation of the Ch’eng-tu Plain_, by _Joshua Vale_, China Inland Mission in _Jour. China Br. R. A. S. Soc._ XXXIII. 1899–1900, pp. 22–36.—H. C.] [Above Kwan Hsien, near Ch’êng-tu, there is a fine suspension bridge, mentioned by Marcel Monnier (_Itinéraires_, p. 43), from whom I borrow the cut reproduced on this page. This bridge is also spoken of by Captain Gill (_l.c._ I. p. 335): “Six ropes, one above the other, are stretched very tightly, and connected by vertical battens of wood laced in and out. Another similar set of ropes is at the other side of the roadway, which is laid across these, and follows the curve of the ropes. There are three or four spans with stone piers.”—H. C.] [Illustration: Bridge near Kwan-hsien (Ch’êng-tu).] NOTE 3.—(G. T.) “_Hi est le_ couiereque _dou Grant Sire, ce est cilz qe recevent la rente dou Seignor_.” Pauthier has _couvert_. Both are, I doubt not, misreadings or misunderstandings of _comercque_ or _comerc_. This word, founded on the Latin _commercium_, was widely spread over the East with the meaning of _customs-duty_ or _custom-house_. In Low Greek it appeared as κομμέρκιον and κουμέρκιον, now κομέρκι; in Arabic and Turkish as قمرق and كمرك (_ḳumruḳ_ and _gyumruk_), still in use; in Romance dialects as _comerchio, comerho, comergio_, etc. NOTE 4.—The word in Pauthier’s text which I have rendered _pieces_ of gold is _pois_, probably equivalent to _saggi_ or _misḳáls_.[2] The G. T. has “is well worth 1000 _bezants_ of gold,” no doubt meaning _daily_, though not saying so. Ramusio has “100 bezants daily.” The term Bezant may be taken as synonymous with _Dínár_, and the statement in the text would make the daily receipt of custom upwards of 500_l._, that in Ramusio upwards of 50_l._ only. NOTE 5.—I have recast this passage, which has got muddled, probably in the original dictation, for it runs in the G. text: “Et de ceste cité se part l’en et chevauche cinq jornée por plain et por valée, et treve-l’en castiaus et casaus assez. Les homes vivent dou profit qu’il traient de la terre. Il hi a bestes sauvajes assez, lions et orses et autres bestes. _Il vivent d’ars: car il hi se laborent des biaus sendal et autres dras. Il sunt de Sindu meisme._” I take it that in speaking of Ch’êng-tu fu, Marco has forgotten to fill up his usual formula as to the occupation of the inhabitants; he is reminded of this when he speaks of the occupation of the peasantry on the way to Tibet, and reverts to the citizens in the words which I have quoted in Italics. We see here _Sindu_ applied to the city, suggesting _Sindu-fu_ for the reading at the beginning of the chapter. Silk is a large item in the produce and trade of Sze-ch’wan; and through extensive quarters of Ch’êng-tu fu, in every house, the spinning, dying, weaving, and embroidering of silk give occupation to the people. And though a good deal is exported, much is consumed in the province, for the people are very much given to costly apparel. Thus silk goods are very conspicuous in the shops of the capital. (_Richthofen_.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] My lamented friend Lieutenant F. Garnier had kindly undertaken to send me a plan of Ch’êng-tu fu from the place itself, but, as is well known, he fell on a daring enterprise elsewhere. [We hope that the plan from a Chinese map we give from _M. Marcel Monnier’s Itinéraires_ will replace the promised one. It will be seen that Ch’êng-tu is divided into three cities: the Great City containing both the Imperial and Tartar cities.—H. C.] [2] I find the same expression applied to the misḳál or dínár in a MS. letter written by Giovanni dell’Affaitado, Venetian Agent at Lisbon in 1503, communicated to me by Signor Berchet. The King of Melinda was to pay to Portugal a tribute of 1500 _pesi d’oro_, “che un peso val un ducato e un quarto.” CHAPTER XLV. CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TEBET. After those five days’ march that I spoke of, you enter a province which has been sorely ravaged; and this was done in the wars of Mongu Kaan. There are indeed towns and villages and hamlets, but all harried and destroyed.{1} In this region you find quantities of canes, full three palms in girth and fifteen paces in length, with some three palms’ interval between the joints. And let me tell you that merchants and other travellers through that country are wont at nightfall to gather these canes and make fires of them; for as they burn they make such loud reports that the lions and bears and other wild beasts are greatly frightened, and make off as fast as possible; in fact nothing will induce them to come nigh a fire of that sort. So you see the travellers make those fires to protect themselves and their cattle from the wild beasts which have so greatly multiplied since the devastation of the country. And ’tis this great multiplication of the wild beasts that prevents the country from being reoccupied. In fact but for the help of these canes, which make such a noise in burning that the beasts are terrified and kept at a distance, no one would be able even to travel through the land. I will tell you how it is that the canes make such a noise. The people cut the green canes, of which there are vast numbers, and set fire to a heap of them at once. After they have been awhile burning they burst asunder, and this makes such a loud report that you might hear it ten miles off. In fact, any one unused to this noise, who should hear it unexpectedly, might easily go into a swound or die of fright. But those who are used to it care nothing about it. Hence those who are not used to it stuff their ears well with cotton, and wrap up their heads and faces with all the clothes they can muster; and so they get along until they have become used to the sound. ’Tis just the same with horses. Those which are unused to these noises are so alarmed by them that they break away from their halters and heel-ropes, and many a man has lost his beasts in this way. So those who would avoid losing their horses take care to tie all four legs and peg the ropes down strongly, and to wrap the heads and eyes and ears of the animals closely, and so they save them. But horses also, when they have heard the noise several times, cease to mind it. I tell you the truth, however, when I say that the first time you hear it nothing can be more alarming. And yet, in spite of all, the lions and bears and other wild beasts will sometimes come and do much mischief; for their numbers are great in those tracts.{2} You ride for 20 days without finding any inhabited spot, so that travellers are obliged to carry all their provisions with them, and are constantly falling in with those wild beasts which are so numerous and so dangerous. After that you come at length to a tract where there are towns and villages in considerable numbers.{3} The people of those towns have a strange custom in regard to marriage which I will now relate. No man of that country would on any consideration take to wife a girl who was a maid; for they say a wife is nothing worth unless she has been used to consort with men. And their custom is this, that when travellers come that way, the old women of the place get ready, and take their unmarried daughters or other girls related to them, and go to the strangers who are passing, and make over the young women to whomsoever will accept them; and the travellers take them accordingly and do their pleasure; after which the girls are restored to the old women who brought them, for they are not allowed to follow the strangers away from their home. In this manner people travelling that way, when they reach a village or hamlet or other inhabited place, shall find perhaps 20 or 30 girls at their disposal. And if the travellers lodge with those people they shall have as many young women as they could wish coming to court them! You must know too that the traveller is expected to give the girl who has been with him a ring or some other trifle, something in fact that she can show as a lover’s token when she comes to be married. And it is for this in truth and for this alone that they follow that custom; for every girl is expected to obtain at least 20 such tokens in the way I have described before she can be married. And those who have most tokens, and so can show they have been most run after, are in the highest esteem, and most sought in marriage, because they say the charms of such an one are greatest.{4} But after marriage these people hold their wives very dear, and would consider it a great villainy for a man to meddle with another’s wife; and thus though the wives have before marriage acted as you have heard, they are kept with great care from light conduct afterwards. Now I have related to you this marriage custom as a good story to tell, and to show what a fine country that is for young fellows to go to! The people are Idolaters and an evil generation, holding it no sin to rob and maltreat: in fact, they are the greatest brigands on earth. They live by the chase, as well as on their cattle and the fruits of the earth. I should tell you also that in this country there are many of the animals that produce musk, which are called in the Tartar language _Gudderi_. Those rascals have great numbers of large and fine dogs, which are of great service in catching the musk-beasts, and so they procure great abundance of musk. They have none of the Great Kaan’s paper money, but use salt instead of money. They are very poorly clad, for their clothes are only of the skins of beasts, and of canvas, and of buckram.{5} They have a language of their own, and they are called Tebet. And this country of TEBET forms a very great province, of which I will give you a brief account. NOTE 1.—The mountains that bound the splendid plain of Ch’êng-tu fu on the west rise rapidly to a height of 12,000 feet and upwards. Just at the skirt of this mountain region, where the great road to Lhása enters it, lies the large and bustling city of Yachaufu, forming the key of the hill country, and the great entrepôt of trade between Sze-ch’wan on the one side, and Tibet and Western Yunnan on the other. The present political boundary between China Proper and Tibet is to the west of Bathang and the Kin-sha Kiang, but till the beginning of last century it lay much further east, near _Ta-t’sien-lu_, or, as the Tibetans appear to call it, _Tartsédo_ or _Tachindo_, which a Chinese Itinerary given by Ritter makes to be 920 _li_, or 11 marches from Ch’êng-tu fu. In Marco’s time we must suppose that Tibet was considered to extend several marches further east still, or to the vicinity of Yachau.[1] Mr. Cooper’s Journal describes the country entered _on the 5th march_ from Ch’êng-tu as very mountainous, many of the neighbouring peaks being capped with snow. And he describes the people as speaking a language mixed with Tibetan for some distance before reaching Ta-t’sien-lu. Baron Richthofen also who, as we shall see, has thrown an entirely new light upon this part of Marco’s itinerary, was exactly five days in travelling through a rich and populous country, from Ch’êng-tu to Yachau. [Captain Gill left Ch’êng-tu on the 10th July, 1877, and reached Ya-chau on the 14th, a distance of 75 miles.—H. C.] (_Ritter_, IV. 190 _seqq._; _Cooper_, pp. 164–173; _Richthofen_ in _Verhandl. Ges. f. Erdk. zu Berlin_, 1874, p. 35.) Tibet was always reckoned as a part of the Empire of the Mongol Kaans in the period of their greatness, but it is not very clear how it came under subjection to them. No conquest of Tibet by their armies appears to be related by either the Mahomedan or the Chinese historians. Yet it is alluded to by Plano Carpini, who ascribes the achievement to an unnamed son of Chinghiz, and narrated by Sanang Setzen, who says that the King of Tibet submitted without fighting when Chinghiz invaded his country in the year of the Panther (1206). During the reign of Mangku Kaan, indeed, Uriangḳadai, an eminent Mongol general [son of Subudai] who had accompanied Prince Kúblái in 1253 against Yunnan, did in the following year direct his arms against the Tibetans. But this campaign, that no doubt to which the text alludes as “the wars of Mangu Kaan,” appears to have occupied only a part of one season, and was certainly confined to the parts of Tibet on the frontiers of Yunnan and Sze-ch’wan. [“In the _Yuen-shi_, Tibet is mentioned under different names. Sometimes the Chinese history of the Mongols uses the ancient name _T’u-fan_. In the Annals, _s.a._ 1251, we read: ‘Mangu Khan entrusted _Ho-li-dan_ with the command of the troops against _T’u-fan_.’ _Sub anno_ 1254 it is stated that Kúblái (who at that time was still the heir-apparent), after subduing the tribes of Yun-nan, entered _T’u-fan_, when _So-ho-to_, the ruler of the country, surrendered. Again, _s.a._ 1275: ‘The prince _Al-lu-chi_ (seventh son of Kúblái) led an expedition to _T’u-fan_.’ In chap. ccii., biography of _Ba-sz’-ba_, the Lama priest who invented Kúblái’s official alphabet, it is stated that this Lama was a native of _Sa-sz’-kia_ in T’u-fan.” (_Bretschneider, Med Res._ II. p. 23.)—H. C.] Koeppen seems to consider it certain that there was no actual conquest of Tibet, and that Kúblái extended his authority over it only by diplomacy and the politic handling of the spiritual potentates who had for several generations in Tibet been the real rulers of the country. It is certain that Chinese history attributes the organisation of civil administration in Tibet to Kúblái. Mati Dhwaja, a young and able member of the family which held the hereditary primacy of the Satya [Sakya] convent, and occupied the most influential position in Tibet, was formerly recognised by the Emperor as the head of the Lamaite Church and as the tributary Ruler of Tibet. He is the same person that we have already (vol. i. p. 28) mentioned as the Passepa or Báshpah Lama, the inventor of Kúblái’s official alphabet. (_Carpini_, 658, 709; _D’Avezac_, 564; _S. Setzen_, 89; _D’Ohsson_, II. 317; _Koeppen_, II. 96; _Amyot_, XIV. 128.) With the caution that Marco’s Travels in Tibet were limited to the same mountainous country on the frontier of Sze-ch’wan, we defer further geographical comment till he brings us to Yunnan. NOTE 2.—Marco exaggerates a little about the bamboos; but before gunpowder became familiar, no sharp explosive sounds of this kind were known to ordinary experience, and exaggeration was natural. I have been close to a bamboo jungle on fire. There was a great deal of noise comparable to musketry; but the bamboos were not of the large kind here spoken of. The Hon. Robert Lindsay, describing his elephant-catching in Silhet, says: “At night each man lights a fire at his post, and furnishes himself with a dozen joints of the large bamboo, one of which he occasionally throws into the fire, and the air it contains being rarefied by the heat, it explodes with a report as loud as a musket.” (_Lives of the Lindsays_, III. 191.) [Dr. Bretschneider (_Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 3) says: “In corroboration of Polo’s statement regarding the explosions produced when burning bamboos, I may adduce Sir Joseph Hooker’s Himalayan Journals (edition of 1891, p. 100), where in speaking of the fires in the jungles, he says: ‘Their triumph is in reaching a great bamboo clump, when the noise of the flames drowns that of the torrents, and as the great stem-joints burst, from the expansion of the confined air, the report is as that of a salvo from a park of artillery.’”—H. C.] [Illustration: Mountaineers on the Borders of Sze ch’wan and Yun-nan.] Richthofen remarks that nowhere in China does the bamboo attain such a size as in this region. Bamboos of three palms in girth (28 to 30 inches) exist, but are not ordinary, I should suppose, even in Sze-ch’wan. In 1855 I took some pains to procure in Pegu a specimen of the largest attainable bamboo. It was 10 inches in diameter. NOTE 3.—M. Gabriel Durand, a missionary priest, thus describes his journey in 1861 to Kiangka, _viâ_ Ta-t’sien-lu, a line of country partly coincident with that which Polo is traversing: “Every day we made a journey of nine or ten leagues, and halted for the night in a _Kung-kuan_. These are posts dotted at intervals of about ten leagues along the road to Hlassa, and usually guarded by three soldiers, though the more important posts have twenty. With the exception of some Tibetan houses, few and far between, these are the only habitations to be seen on this silent and deserted road.... Lytang was the first collection of houses that we had seen in ten days’ march.” (_Ann. de la Propag. de la Foi_, XXXV. 352 _seqq._) NOTE 4.—Such practices are ascribed to many nations. Martini quotes something similar from a Chinese author about tribes in Yunnan; and Garnier says such loose practices are still ascribed to the Sifan near the southern elbow of the Kin-sha Kiang. Even of the Mongols themselves and kindred races, Pallas asserts that the young women regard a number of intrigues rather as a credit and recommendation than otherwise. Japanese ideas seem to be not very different. In old times Ælian gives much the same account of the Lydian women. Herodotus’s Gindanes of Lybia afford a perfect parallel, “whose women wear on their legs anklets of leather. Each lover that a woman has gives her one; and she who can show most is the best esteemed, as she appears to have been loved by the greatest number of men.” (_Martini_, 142; _Garnier_, I. 520; _Pall. Samml._ II. 235; _Æl. Var. Hist._ III. 1; _Rawl. Herod._ Bk. IV. ch. clxxvi.) [“Among some uncivilised peoples, women having many gallants are esteemed better than virgins, and are more anxiously desired in marriage. This is, for instance, stated to be the case with the Indians of Quito, the Laplanders in Regnard’s days, and the Hill Tribes of North Aracan. But in each of these cases we are expressly told that want of chastity is considered a merit in the bride, because it is held to be the best testimony to the value of her attractions.” (_Westermarck, Human Marriage_, p. 81.)—H. C.] Mr. Cooper’s Journal, when on the banks of the Kin-sha Kiang, west of Bathang, affords a startling illustration of the persistence of manners in this region: “At 12h. 30m. we arrived at a road-side house, near which was a grove of walnut-trees; here we alighted, when to my surprise I was surrounded by a group of young girls and two elderly women, who invited me to partake of a repast spread under the trees.... I thought I had stumbled on a pic-nic party, of which the Tibetans are so fond. Having finished, I lighted my pipe and threw myself on the grass in a state of castle-building. I had not lain thus many seconds when the maidens brought a young girl about 15 years old, tall and very fair, placed her on the grass beside me, and forming a ring round us, commenced to sing and dance. The little maid beside me, however, was bathed in tears. All this, I must confess, a little puzzled me, when Philip (the Chinese servant) with a long face, came to my aid, saying, ‘_Well, Sir, this is a bad business ... they are marrying you._’ Good heavens! how startled I was.” For the honourable conclusion of this Anglo-Tibetan idyll I must refer to Mr. Cooper’s Journal. (See the now published _Travels_, ch. x.) NOTE 5.—All this is clearly meant to apply only to the rude people towards the Chinese frontier; nor would the Chinese (says Richthofen) at this day think the description at all exaggerated, as applied to the Lolo who occupy the mountains to the south of Yachaufu. The members of the group at p. 47, from Lieutenant Garnier’s book, are there termed Man-tzŭ; but the context shows them to be of the race of these Lolos. (See below, pp. 60, 61.) The passage about the musk animal, both in Pauthier and in the G. T., ascribes the word _Gudderi_ to the language “of that people,” _i.e._ of the Tibetans. The Geog. Latin, however, has “_linguâ Tartaricâ_,” and this is the fact. Klaproth informs us that _Guderi_ is the Mongol word. And it will be found (_Kuderi_) in Kovalevski’s Dictionary, No. 2594. Musk is still the most valuable article that goes from Ta-t’sien-lu to China. Much is smuggled, and single travellers will come all the way from Canton or Si-ngan fu to take back a small load of it. (_Richthofen_.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Indeed Richthofen says that the boundary lay a few (German) miles west of Yachau. I see that Martini’s map puts it (in the 17th century) 10 German geographical miles, or about 46 statute miles, west of that city. CHAPTER XLVI. FURTHER DISCOURSE CONCERNING TEBET. This province, called Tebet, is of very great extent. The people, as I have told you, have a language of their own, and they are Idolaters, and they border on Manzi and sundry other regions. Moreover, they are very great thieves. The country is, in fact, so great that it embraces eight kingdoms, and a vast number of cities and villages.{1} It contains in several quarters rivers and lakes, in which gold-dust is found in great abundance.{2} Cinnamon also grows there in great plenty. Coral is in great demand in this country and fetches a high price, for they delight to hang it round the necks of their women and of their idols.{3} They have also in this country plenty of fine woollens and other stuffs, and many kinds of spices are produced there which are never seen in our country. Among this people, too, you find the best enchanters and astrologers that exist in all that quarter of the world; they perform such extraordinary marvels and sorceries by diabolic art, that it astounds one to see or even hear of them. So I will relate none of them in this book of ours; people would be amazed if they heard them, but it would serve no good purpose.{4} These people of Tebet are an ill-conditioned race. They have mastiff dogs as bigs as donkeys, which are capital at seizing wild beasts [and in particular the wild oxen which are called _Beyamini_, very great and fierce animals]. They have also sundry other kinds of sporting dogs, and excellent lanner falcons [and sakers], swift in flight and well-trained, which are got in the mountains of the country.{5} Now I have told you in brief all that is to be said about Tebet, and so we will leave it, and tell you about another province that is called Caindu. [Illustration: Village of Eastern Tibet on Sze-ch’wan Frontier. (From Cooper.)] As regards Tebet, however, you should understand that it is subject to the Great Kaan. So, likewise, all the other kingdoms, regions, and provinces which are described in this book are subject to the Great Kaan, nay, even those other kingdoms, regions, and provinces of which I had occasion to speak at the beginning of the book as belonging to the son of Argon, the Lord of the Levant, are also subject to the Emperor; for the former holds his dominion of the Kaan, and is his liegeman and kinsman of the blood Imperial. So you must know that from this province forward all the provinces mentioned in our book are subject to the Great Kaan; and even if this be not specially mentioned, you must understand that it is so. Now let us have done with this matter, and I will tell you about the Province of Caindu. [Illustration: Roads in Eastern Tibet. (Gorge of the Lan t’sang Kiang, from Cooper.)] NOTE 1.—Here Marco at least shows that he knew Tibet to be much more extensive than the small part of it that he had seen. But beyond this his information amounts to little. NOTE 2.—“_Or de paliolle._” “_Oro di pagliuola_” (_pagliuola_, “a spangle”) must have been the technical phrase for what we call gold-dust, and the French now call _or en paillettes_, a phrase used by a French missionary in speaking of this very region. (_Ann. de la Foi_, XXXVII. 427.) Yet the only example of this use of the word cited in the _Voc. Ital. Universale_ is from this passage of the Crusca MS.; and Pipino seems not to have understood it, translating “_aurum quod dicitur_ Deplaglola”; whilst Zurla says erroneously that _pajola_ is an old Italian word for _gold_. Pegolotti uses _argento in pagliuola_ (p. 219). A Barcelona tariff of 1271 sets so much on every mark of _Pallola_. And the old Portuguese navigators seem always to have used the same expression for the gold-dust of Africa, _ouro de pajola_. (See _Major’s Prince Henry_, pp. 111, 112, 116; _Capmany Memorias_, etc., II. App. p. 73; also “_Aurum_ de Pajola,” in Usodimare of Genoa, see _Gräberg, Annali_, II. 290, quoted by Peschel, p. 178.) NOTE 3.—The cinnamon must have been the coarser cassia produced in the lower parts of this region. (See note to next chapter.) We have already (Book I. ch. xxxi.) quoted Tavernier’s testimony to the rage for coral among the Tibetans and kindred peoples. Mr. Cooper notices the eager demand for coral at Bathang. (See also _Desgodins, La Mission du Thibet_, 310.) NOTE 4.—See _supra_, Bk. I. ch. lxi. note 11. NOTE 5.—The big Tibetan mastiffs are now well known. Mr. Cooper, at Ta-t’sien lu, notes that the people of Tibetan race “keep very large dogs, as large as Newfoundlands.” And he mentions a pack of dogs of another breed, tan and black, “fine animals of the size of setters.” The missionary M. Durand also, in a letter from the region in question, says, speaking of a large leopard: “Our brave watch-dogs had several times beaten him off gallantly, and one of them had even in single combat with him received a blow of the paw which had laid his skull open.” (_Ann. de la Prop. de la Foi_, XXXVII. 314.) On the title-page of vol. i. we have introduced one of these big Tibetan dogs as brought home by the Polos to Venice. The “wild oxen called _Beyamini_” are probably some such species as the Gaur. _Beyamini_ I suspect to be no Oriental word, but to stand for _Buemini_, _i.e._ Bohemian, a name which may have been given by the Venetians to either the bison or urus. Polo’s contemporary, Brunetto Latini, seems to speak of one of these as still existing in his day in Germany: “Autre buef naissent en Alemaigne qui ont grans cors, et sont bons por sommier et por vin porter.” (Paris ed., p. 228; see also _Lubbock, Pre-historic Times_, 296–7.) [Mr. Baber (_Travels_, pp. 39, 40) writes: “A special interest attaches to the wild oxen, since they are unknown in any other part of China Proper. From a Lolo chief and his followers, most enthusiastic hunters, I afterwards learnt that the cattle are met with in herds of from seven to twenty head in the recesses of the Wilderness, which may be defined as the region between the T’ung River and Yachou, but that in general they are rarely seen.... I was lucky enough to obtain a pair of horns and part of the hide of one of these redoubtable animals, which seem to show that they are a kind of bison.” Sir H. Yule remarks in a footnote (_Ibid._ p. 40): “It is not possible to say from what is stated here what the species is, but probably it is a _gavœus_, of which Jerdan describes three species. (See _Mammals of India_, pp. 301–307.) Mr. Hodgson describes the Gaur (_Gavœus gaurus_ of Jerdan) of the forests below Nepaul as fierce and revengeful.”—H. C.] CHAPTER XLVII. CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CAINDU. CAINDU is a province lying towards the west,{1} and there is only one king in it. The people are Idolaters, subject to the Great Kaan, and they have plenty of towns and villages. [The chief city is also called Caindu, and stands at the upper end of the province.] There is a lake here,[1] in which are found pearls [which are white but not round]. But the Great Kaan will not allow them to be fished, for if people were to take as many as they could find there, the supply would be so vast that pearls would lose their value, and come to be worth nothing. Only when it is his pleasure they take from the lake so many as he may desire; but any one attempting to take them on his own account would be incontinently put to death. There is also a mountain in this country wherein they find a kind of stone called turquoise, in great abundance; and it is a very beautiful stone. These also the Emperor does not allow to be extracted without his special order.{2} I must tell you of a custom that they have in this country regarding their women. No man considers himself wronged if a foreigner, or any other man, dishonour his wife, or daughter, or sister, or any woman of his family, but on the contrary he deems such intercourse a piece of good fortune. And they say that it brings the favour of their gods and idols, and great increase of temporal prosperity. For this reason they bestow their wives on foreigners and other people as I will tell you. When they fall in with any stranger in want of a lodging they are all eager to take him in. And as soon as he has taken up his quarters the master of the house goes forth, telling him to consider everything at his disposal, and after saying so he proceeds to his vineyards or his fields, and comes back no more till the stranger has departed. The latter abides in the caitiff’s house, be it three days or be it four, enjoying himself with the fellow’s wife or daughter or sister, or whatsoever woman of the family it best likes him; and as long as he abides there he leaves his hat or some other token hanging at the door, to let the master of the house know that he is still there. As long as the wretched fellow sees that token, he must not go in. And such is the custom over all that province.{3} The money matters of the people are conducted in this way. They have gold in rods which they weigh, and they reckon its value by its weight in _saggi_, but they have no coined money. Their small change again is made in this way. They have salt which they boil and set in a mould [flat below and round above],{4} and every piece from the mould weighs about half a pound. Now, 80 moulds of this salt are worth one _saggio_ of fine gold, which is a weight so called. So this salt serves them for small change.{5} [Illustration: The Valley of the Kin-sha Kiang, near the lower end of Caindu, _i.e._ Kienchang. (From Garnier.) “=Et quant l’en est alés ceste dix jornée adonc treuve-l’en un grant flun qe est apéle Brius, auquel se fenist la provence de Cheindu.=”] The musk animals are very abundant in that country, and thus of musk also they have great store. They have likewise plenty of fish which they catch in the lake in which the pearls are produced. Wild animals, such as lions, bears, wolves, stags, bucks and roes, exist in great numbers; and there are also vast quantities of fowl of every kind. Wine of the vine they have none, but they make a wine of wheat and rice and sundry good spices, and very good drink it is.{6} There grows also in this country a quantity of clove. The tree that bears it is a small one, with leaves like laurel but longer and narrower, and with a small white flower like the clove.{7} They have also ginger and cinnamon in great plenty, besides other spices which never reach our countries, so we need say nothing about them. Now we may leave this province, as we have told you all about it. But let me tell you first of this same country of Caindu that you ride through it ten days, constantly meeting with towns and villages, with people of the same description that I have mentioned. After riding those ten days you come to a river called BRIUS, which terminates the province of Caindu. In this river is found much gold-dust, and there is also much cinnamon on its banks. It flows to the Ocean Sea. There is no more to be said about this river, so I will now tell you about another province called Carajan, as you shall hear in what follows. NOTE 1.—Ramusio’s version here enlarges: “Don’t suppose from my saying _towards the west_ that these countries really lie in what we call the _west_, but only that we have been travelling from regions in the east-north-east _towards_ the west, and hence we speak of the countries we come to as lying towards the west.” NOTE 2.—Chinese authorities quoted by Ritter mention _mother-o’-pearl_ as a product of Lithang, and speak of turquoises as found in Djaya to the west of Bathang. (_Ritter_, IV. 235–236.) Neither of these places is, however, within the tract which we believe to be Caindu. Amyot states that pearls are found in a certain river of Yun-nan. (See _Trans. R. A. Soc._ II. 91.) NOTE 3.—This alleged practice, like that mentioned in the last chapter but one, is ascribed to a variety of people in different parts of the world. Both, indeed, have a curious double parallel in the story of two remote districts of the Himalaya which was told to Bernier by an old Kashmiri. (See Amst. ed. II. 304–305.) Polo has told nearly the same story already of the people of Kamul. (Bk. I. ch. xli.) It is related by Strabo of the Massagetæ; by Eusebius of the Geli and the Bactrians; by Elphinstone of the Hazaras; by Mendoza of the Ladrone Islanders; by other authors of the Nairs of Malabar, and of some of the aborigines of the Canary Islands. (_Caubul_, I. 209; _Mendoza_, II. 254; _Müller’s Strabo_, p. 439; _Euseb. Praep. Evan._ vi. 10; _Major’s Pr. Henry_, p. 213.) NOTE 4.—Ramusio has here: “as big as a twopenny loaf,” and adds, “on the money so made the Prince’s mark is printed; and no one is allowed to make it except the royal officers.... And merchants take this currency and go to those tribes that dwell among the mountains of those parts in the wildest and most unfrequented quarters; and there they get a _saggio_ of gold for 60, or 50, or 40 pieces of this salt money, in proportion as the natives are more barbarous and more remote from towns and civilised folk. For in such positions they cannot dispose at pleasure of their gold and other things, such as musk and the like, for want of purchasers; and so they give them cheap.... And the merchants travel also about the mountains and districts of Tebet, disposing of this salt money in like manner to their own great gain. For those people, besides buying necessaries from the merchants, want this salt to use in their food; whilst in the towns only broken fragments are used in food, the whole cakes being kept to use as money.” This exchange of salt cakes for gold forms a curious parallel to the like exchange in the heart of Africa, narrated by Cosmas in the 6th century, and by Aloisio Cadamosto in the 15th. (See _Cathay_, pp. clxx–clxxi.) Ritter also calls attention to an analogous account in Alvarez’s description of Ethiopia. “The salt,” Alvarez says, “is current as money, not only in the kingdom of Prester John, but also in those of the Moors and the pagans, and the people here say that it passes right on to Manicongo upon the Western Sea. This salt is dug from the mountain, it is said, in squared blocks.... At the place where they are dug, 100 or 120 such pieces pass for a drachm of gold ... equal to ¾ of a ducat of gold. When they arrive at a certain fair ... one day from the salt mine, these go 5 or 6 pieces fewer to the drachm. And so, from fair to fair, fewer and fewer, so that when they arrive at the capital there will be only 6 or 7 pieces to the drachm.” (_Ramusio_, I. 207.) Lieutenant Bower, in his account of Major Sladen’s mission, says that at Momein the salt, which was a government monopoly, was “made up in rolls of one and two viss” (a Rangoon viss is 3 lbs. 5 oz. 5½ drs.), “and stamped” (p. 120). [At Hsia-Kuan, near Ta-li, Captain Gill remarked to a friend (II. p. 312) “that the salt, instead of being in the usual great flat cakes about two or two and a half feet in diameter, was made in cylinders eight inches in diameter and nine inches high. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘they make them here in a sort of loaves,’ unconsciously using almost the words of old Polo, who said the salt in Yun-Nan was in pieces ‘as big as a twopenny loaf.’” (See also p. 334.)—H. C.] M. Desgodins, a missionary in this part of Tibet, gives some curious details of the way in which the civilised traders still prey upon the simple hill-folks of that quarter; exactly as the Hindu Banyas prey upon the simple forest-tribes of India. He states one case in which the account for a pig had with interest run up to 2127 bushels of corn! (_Ann. de la Prop. de la Foi_, XXXVI. 320.) Gold is said still to be very plentiful in the mountains called Gulan Sigong, to the N.W. of Yun-nan, adjoining the great eastern branch of the Irawadi, and the Chinese traders go there to barter for it. (See _J. A. S. B._ VI. 272.) NOTE 5.—Salt is still an object highly coveted by the wild Lolos already alluded to, and to steal it is a chief aim of their constant raids on Chinese villages. (_Richthofen_ in _Verhandlungen_, etc., u.s. p. 36.) On the continued existence of the use of salt currency in regions of the same frontier, I have been favoured with the following note by M. Francis Garnier, the distinguished leader of the expedition of the great Kamboja River in its latter part: “Salt currency has a very wide diffusion from Muang Yong [in the Burman-Shan country, about lat. 21° 43′] to Sheu-pin [in Yun-nan, about lat. 23° 43′]. In the Shan markets, especially within the limits named, all purchases are made with salt. At Sse-mao and Pou-erl [_Esmok_ and _Puer_ of some of our maps], silver, weighed and cut in small pieces, is in our day tending to drive out the custom, but in former days it must have been universal in the tract of which I am speaking. The salt itself, prime necessity as it is, has there to be extracted by condensation from saline springs of great depth, a very difficult affair. The operation consumes enormous quantities of fuel, and to this is partly due the denudation of the country”. Marco’s somewhat rude description of the process, “_Il prennent la sel e la font cuire, et puis la gitent en forme_,” points to the manufacture spoken of in this note. The cut which we give from M. Garnier’s work illustrates the process, but the cakes are vastly greater than Marco’s. Instead of a half pound they weigh a _picul_, _i.e._ 133⅓ lbs. In Sze-ch’wan the brine wells are bored to a depth of 700 to 1000 feet, and the brine is drawn up in bamboo tubes by a gin. In Yun-nan the wells are much less deep, and a succession of hand pumps is used to raise the brine. [Illustration: Salt pans in Yun-nan. (From Garnier.) “=Il prennent la sel e la font cuire, et puis la gitent en forme.=”] [Mr. Hosie has a chapter (_Three Years in W. China_, VII.) to which he has given the title of _Through Caindu to Carajan_; regarding salt he writes (p. 121): “The brine wells from which the salt is derived lie at Pai yen ching, 14 miles to the south-west of the city [of Yen-yuan] ... [they] are only two in number, and comparatively shallow, being only 50 feet in depth. Bamboo tubes, ropes and buffaloes are here dispensed with, and small wooden tubs, with bamboos fixed to their sides as handles for raising, are considered sufficient. At one of the wells a staging was erected half-way down, and from it the tubs of brine were passed up to the workmen above. Passing from the wells to the evaporating sheds, we found a series of mud furnaces with round holes at the top, into which cone-shaped pans, manufactured from iron obtained in the neighbourhood, and varying in height from one to two and a half feet, were loosely fitted. When a pan has been sufficiently heated, a ladleful of the brine is poured into it, and, bubbling up to the surface, it sinks, leaving a saline deposit on the inside of the pan. This process is repeated until a layer, some four inches thick, and corresponding to the shape of the pan, is formed, when the salt is removed as a hollow cone ready for market. Care must be taken to keep the bottom of the pan moist; otherwise, the salt cone would crack, and be rendered unfit for the rough carriage which it experiences on the backs of pack animals. A soft coal, which is found just under the surface of the yellow-soiled hills seven miles to the west of Pai-yen-ching, is the fuel used in the furnaces. The total daily output of salt at these wells does not exceed two tons a day, and the cost at the wells, including the Government tax, amounts to about three half-pence a pound. The area of supply, owing to the country being sparsely populated, is greater than the output would lead one to expect.”—H. C.] NOTE 6.—The spiced wine of Kien-ch’ang (see note to next chapter) has even now a high repute. (_Richthofen_.) NOTE 7.—M. Pauthier will have it that Marco was here the discoverer of Assam tea. Assam is, indeed, far out of our range, but his notice of this plant, with the laurel-like leaf and white flower, was brought strongly to my recollection in reading Mr. Cooper’s repeated notices, almost in this region, of the _large-leaved tea-tree, with its white flowers_; and, again, of “the hills covered with _tea-oil_ trees, all white with flowers.” Still, one does not clearly see why Polo should give tea-trees the name of cloves. Failing explanation of this, I should suppose that the cloves of which the text speaks were _cassia-buds_, an article once more prominent in commerce (as indeed were all similar aromatics) than now, but still tolerably well known. I was at once supplied with them at a _drogheria_, in the city where I write (Palermo), on asking for _Fiori di Canella_, the name under which they are mentioned repeatedly by Pegolotti and Uzzano, in the 14th and 15th centuries. Friar Jordanus, in speaking of the cinnamon (or cassia) of Malabar, says, “it is the bark of a large tree which has fruit and _flowers like cloves_” (p. 28). The cassia-buds have indeed a general resemblance to cloves, but they are shorter, lighter in colour, and not angular. The cinnamon, mentioned in the next lines as abundantly produced in the same region, was no doubt one of the inferior sorts, called cassia-bark. Williams says: “Cassia grows in all the southern provinces of China, especially Kwang-si and Yun-nan, also in Annam, Japan, and the Isles of the Archipelago. The wood, bark, buds, seeds, twigs, pods, leaves, oil, are all objects of commerce.... The buds (_kwei-tz’_) are the fleshy ovaries of the seeds; they are pressed at one end, so that they bear some resemblance to cloves in shape.” Upwards of 500 _piculs_ (about 30 tons), valued at 30 dollars each, are annually exported to Europe and India. (_Chin. Commercial Guide_, 113–114). The only doubt as regards this explanation will probably be whether the cassia would be found at such a height as we may suppose to be that of the country in question above the sea-level. I know that cassia bark is gathered in the Kasia Hills of Eastern Bengal up to a height of about 4000 feet above the sea, and at least the valleys of “Caindu” are probably not too elevated for this product. Indeed, that of the Kin-sha or _Brius_, near where I suppose Polo to cross it, is only 2600 feet. Positive evidence I cannot adduce. No cassia or cinnamon was met with by M. Garnier’s party where they intersected this region. But in this 2nd edition I am able to state on the authority of Baron Richthofen that cassia is produced in the whole length of the valley of Kien-ch’ang (which is, as we shall see in the notes on next chapter, Caindu), though in no other part of Sze-ch’wan nor in Northern Yun-nan. [Captain Gill (_River of Golden Sand_, II. p. 263) writes: “There were chestnut trees ...; and the Kwei-Hua, a tree ‘with leaves like the laurel, and with a small white flower, like the clove,’ having a delicious, though rather a luscious smell. This was the Cassia, and I can find no words more suitable to describe it than those of Polo which I have just used.”—H. C.] _Ethnology_.—The Chinese at Ch’êng-tu fu, according to Richthofen, classify the aborigines of the Sze-ch’wan frontier as _Man-tzŭ, Lolo, Si-fan_, and _Tibetan_. Of these the Si-fan are furthest north, and extend far into Tibet. The Man-tzŭ (properly so called) are regarded as the remnant of the ancient occupants of Sze-ch’wan, and now dwell in the mountains about the parallel 30°, and along the Lhása road, Ta-t’sien lu being about the centre of their tract. The Lolo are the wildest and most independent, occupying the mountains on the left of the Kin-sha Kiang where it runs northwards (see above p. 48, and below p. 69) and also to some extent on its right. The Tibetan tribes lie to the west of the Man-tzŭ, and to the west of Kien-ch’ang. (See next chapter.) Towards the Lan-ts’ang Kiang is the quasi-Tibetan tribe called by the Chinese _Mossos_, by the Tibetans _Guions_, and between the Lan-ts’ang and the Lú-Kiang or Salwen are the _Lissús_, wild hill-robbers and great musk hunters, like those described by Polo at p. 45. Garnier, who gives these latter particulars, mentions that near the confluence of the Yalung and Kin-sha Kiang there are tribes called _Pa-i_, as there are in the south of Yun-nan, and, like the latter, of distinctly Shan or Laotian character. He also speaks of _Si-fan_ tribes in the vicinity of Li-kiang fu, and coming south of the Kin-sha Kiang even to the east of Ta-li. Of these are told such loose tales as Polo tells of _Tebet_ and _Caindu_. [In the _Topography of the Yun-nan Province_ (edition of 1836) there is a catalogue of 141 classes of aborigines, each with a separate name and illustration, without any attempt to arrive at a broader classification. Mr. Bourne has been led to the conviction that exclusive of the Tibetans (including Si-fan and Ku-tsung), there are but three great non-Chinese races in Southern China: the Lolo, the Shan, and the Miao-tzŭ. (_Report, China_, No. 1, 1888, p. 87.) This classification is adopted by Dr. Deblenne. (_Mission Lyonnaise_.) _Man-tzŭ, Man_, is a general name for “barbarian” (see my note in _Odoric de Pordenone_, p. 248 _seqq._); it is applied as well to the Lolo as to the Si-fan. Mr. Parker remarks (_China Review_, XX. p. 345) that the epithet of _Man-tzŭ_, or “barbarians,” dates from the time when the Shans, Annamese, Miao-tzŭ, etc., occupied nearly all South China, for it is essentially to the Indo-Chinese that the term Man-tzŭ belongs. Mr. Hosie writes (_Three years in W. China_, 122): “At the time when Marco Polo passed through Caindu, this country was in the possession of the Si-fans.... At the present day, they occupy the country to the west, and are known under the generic name of Man-tzŭ.” “It has already been remarked that _Si-fan_, convertible with _Man-tzŭ_, is a loose Chinese expression of no ethnological value, meaning nothing more than Western barbarians; but in a more restricted sense it is used to designate a people (or peoples) which inhabits the valley of the Yalung and the upper T’ung, with contiguous valleys and ranges, from about the twenty-seventh parallel to the borders of Koko-nor. This people is sub-divided into eighteen tribes.” (_Baber_, p. 81.) Si-fan or Pa-tsiu is the name by which the Chinese call the Tibetan tribes which occupy part of Western China. (_Devéria_, p. 167.) [Illustration: Black Lolo.] Dr. Bretschneider writes (_Med. Res._ II. p. 24): “The north-eastern part of Tibet was sometimes designated by the Chinese name Si-fan, and Hyacinth [Bitchurin] is of opinion that in ancient times this name was even applied to the whole of Tibet. _Si-fan_ means, ‘Western Barbarians.’ The biographer of Hiuen-Tsang reports that when this traveller, in 629, visited Liang-chau (in the province of Kan-Suh), this city was the entrepôt for merchants from _Si-fan_ and the countries east of the Ts’ung-ling mountains. In the history of the Hia and Tangut Empire (in the _Sung-shi_) we read, _s. a._ 1003, that the founder of this Empire invaded _Si-fan_ and then proceeded to _Si-liang_ (Liang-chau). The _Yuen-shi_ reports, _s. a._ 1268: ‘The (Mongol) Emperor ordered _Meng-gu-dai_ to invade _Si-fan_ with 6000 men.’ The name Si-fan appears also in ch. ccii., biography of _Dan-ba_.” It is stated in the _Ming-shi_, “that the name _Si-fan_ is applied to the territory situated beyond the frontiers of the Chinese provinces of Shen-si (then including the eastern part of present Kan-Suh) and Sze-ch’wan, and inhabited by various tribes of Tangut race, anciently known in Chinese history under the name of _Si Kiang_.... The _Kuang yu ki_ notices that _Si-fan_ comprises the territory of the south-west of Shen-si, west of Sze-ch’wan and north-west of Yun-nan.... The tribute presented by the Si-fan tribes to the Emperor used to be carried to the court at Peking by way of Ya-chau in Sze-ch’wan.” (_Bretschneider_, 203.) The Tangutans of Prjevalsky, north-east of Tibet, in the country of Ku-ku nor, correspond to the Si-fan. “The Ta-tu River may be looked upon as the southern limit of the region inhabited by Sifan tribes, and the northern boundary of the Lolo country which stretches southwards to the Yang-tzŭ and east from the valley of Kien-ch’ang towards the right bank of the Min.” (_Hosie_, p. 102.) To Mr. E. C. Baber we owe the most valuable information regarding the Lolo people: “‘Lolo’ is itself a word of insult, of unknown Chinese origin, which should not be used in their presence, although they excuse it and will even sometimes employ it in the case of ignorant strangers. In the report of Governor-General Lo Ping-chang, above quoted, they are called ‘I,’ the term applied by Chinese to Europeans. They themselves have no objection to being styled ‘I-chia’ (I families), but that word is not their native name. Near Ma-pien they call themselves ‘Lo-su’; in the neighbourhood of Lui-po T’ing their name is ‘No-su’ or ‘Ngo-su’ (possibly a mere variant of ‘Lo-su’); near Hui-li-chou the term is ‘Lé-su’—the syllable Lé being pronounced as in French. The subject tribes on the T’ung River, near Mount Wa, also name themselves ‘Ngo-su.’ I have found the latter people speak very disrespectfully of the Lé-su, which argues an internal distinction; but there can be no doubt that they are the same race, and speak the same language, though with minor differences of dialect.” (_Baber, Travels_, 66–67.) “With very rare exceptions the male Lolo, rich or poor, free or subject, may be instantly known by his _horn_. All his hair is gathered into a knot over his forehead and there twisted up in a cotton cloth so as to resemble the horn of a unicorn. The horn with its wrapper is sometimes a good nine inches long. They consider this _coiffure_ sacred, so at least I was told, and even those who wear a short pig-tail for convenience in entering Chinese territory still conserve the indigenous horn, concealed for the occasion under the folds of the Sze-ch’wan turban.” (_Baber_, p. 61.) See these horns on figures, Bk. II. ch. lviii. [Illustration: White Lolo.] “The principal clothing of a Lolo is his mantle, a capacious sleeveless garment of grey or black felt gathered round his neck by a string, and reaching nearly to his heels. In the case of the better classes the mantle is of fine felt—in great request among the Chinese—and has a fringe of cotton-web round its lower border. For journeys on horseback they have a similar cloak differing only in being slit half-way up the back; a wide lappet covering the opening lies easily along the loins and croup of the horse. The colour of the felt is originally grey, but becomes brown-black or black, in process of time. It is said that the insects which haunt humanity never infest these gabardines. The Lolo generally gathers this garment closely round his shoulders and crosses his arms inside. His legs, clothed in trousers of Chinese cotton, are swathed in felt bandages bound on with strings, and he has not yet been super-civilised into the use of foot-gear. In summer a cotton cloak is often substituted for the felt mantle. The hat, serving equally for an umbrella, is woven of bamboo, in a low conical shape, and is covered with felt. Crouching in his felt mantle under this roof of felt the hardy Lolo is impervious to wind or rain.” (_Baber, Travels_, 61–62.) “The word, ‘Black-bone,’ is generally used by the Chinese as a name for the independent Lolos, but in the mouth of a Lolo it seems to mean a ‘freeman’ or ‘noble,’ in which sense it is not a whit more absurd than the ‘blue-blood,’ of Europeans. The ‘White-bones,’ an inferior class, but still Lolo by birth, are, so far as I could understand, the vassals and retainers of the patricians—the people, in fact. A third class consists of Wa-tzŭ, or slaves, who are all captive Chinese. It does not appear whether the servile class is sub-divided, but, at any rate, the slaves born in Lolodom are treated with more consideration than those who have been captured in slave-hunts.” (_Baber, Travels_, 67.) According to the French missionary, Paul Vial (_Les Lolos_, Shang-hai, 1898) the Lolos say that they come from the country situated between Tibet and Burma. The proper manner to address a Lolo in Chinese is _Lao-pen-kia_. The book of Father Vial contains a very valuable chapter on the writing of the Lolos. Mr. F. S. A. Bourne writes (_Report, China_, No. I. 1888, p. 88):—“The old Chinese name for this race was ‘Ts’uan Man’— ‘Ts’uan barbarians,’ a name taken from one of their chiefs. The _Yun-nan Topography_ says:—‘The name of “Ts’uan Man” is a very ancient one, and originally the tribes of Ts’uan were very numerous. There was that called “Lu-lu Man,” for instance, now improperly called “Lo-Lo.”’ These people call themselves ‘Nersu,’ and the vocabularies show that they stretch in scattered communities as far as Ssŭ-mao and along the whole southern border of Yun-nan. It appears from the _Topography_ that they are found also on the Burmese border.” The _Moso_ call themselves _Nashi_ and are called _Djiung_ by the Tibetans; their ancient capital is Li-kiang fu which was taken by their chief Mong-ts’u under the Sung Dynasty; the Mongols made of their country the kingdom of Chaghan-djang. Li-kiang is the territory of Yuê-si Chao, called also Mo-sie (Moso), one of the six Chao of Nan-Chao. The Moso of Li-kiang call themselves _Ho_. They have an epic styled _Djiung-Ling_ (Moso Division) recounting the invasion of part of Tibet by the Moso. The Moso were submitted during the 8th century, by the King of Nan-Chao. They have a special hieroglyphic scrip, a specimen of which has been given by Devéria. (_Frontière_, p. 166.) A manuscript was secured by Captain Gill, on the frontier east of Li-t’ang, and presented by him to the British Museum (_Add._ MSS. Or. 2162); T. de Lacouperie gave a facsimile of it. (Plates I., II. of _Beginnings of Writing_.) Prince Henri d’Orléans and M. Bonin both brought home a Moso manuscript with a Chinese explanation. Dr. Anderson (_Exped. to Yunnan_, Calcutta, p. 136) says the _Li-sus_, or _Lissaus_ are “a small hill-people, with fair, round, flat faces, high cheek bones, and some little obliquity of the eye.” These Li-su or Li-siè, are scattered throughout the Yunnanese prefectures of Yao-ngan, Li-kiang, Ta-li and Yung-ch’ang; they were already in Yun-Nan in the 4th century when the Chinese general Ch’u Chouang-kiao entered the country. (_Devéria, Front._, p. 164.) The _Pa-y_ or _P’o-y_ formed under the Han Dynasty the principality of P’o-tsiu and under the T’ang Dynasty the tribes of Pu-hiung and of Si-ngo, which were among the thirty-seven tribes dependent on the ancient state of Nan-Chao and occupied the territory of the sub-prefectures of Kiang-Chuen (Ch’êng-kiang fu) and of Si-ngo (Lin-ngan fu). They submitted to China at the beginning of the Yuen Dynasty; their country bordered upon Burma (Mien-tien) and Ch’ê-li or Kiang-Hung (Xieng-Hung), in Yun-Nan, on the right bank of the Mekong River. According to Chinese tradition, the Pa-y descended from Muong Tsiu-ch’u, ninth son of Ti Muong-tsiu, son of Piao-tsiu-ti (Asôka). Devéria gives (p. 105) a specimen of the Pa-y writing (16th century). (_Devéria, Front._, 99, 117; _Bourne, Report_, p. 88.) Chapter iv. of the Chinese work, _Sze-i-kwan-k’ao_, is devoted to the _Pa-y_, including the sub-divisions of Muong-Yang, Muong-Ting, Nan-tien, Tsien-ngaï, Lung-chuen, Wei-yuan, Wan-tien, Chen-k’ang, Ta-how, Mang-shi, Kin-tung, Ho-tsin, Cho-lo tien. (_Devéria, Mél. de Harlez_, p. 97.) I give a specimen of Pa-yi writing from a Chinese work purchased by Father Amiot at Peking, now in the Paris National Library (Fonds chinois, No. 986). (See on this scrip, _F. W. K. Müller, T’oung-Pao_, III. p. 1, and V. p. 329; _E. H. Parker, The Muong Language, China Review_, I. 1891, p. 267; _P. Lefèvre-Pontalis, Etudes sur quelques alphabets et vocab. Thais, T’oung Pao_, III. pp. 39–64.)—H. C.] These ethnological matters have to be handled cautiously, for there is great ambiguity in the nomenclature. Thus _Man-tzŭ_ is often used generically for aborigines, and the _Lolos_ of Richthofen are called Man-tzŭ by Garnier and Blakiston; whilst _Lolo_ again has in Yun-nan apparently a very comprehensive generic meaning, and is so used by Garnier. (_Richt. Letter_ VII. 67–68 and MS. notes; _Garnier_, I. 519 _seqq._ [_T. W. Kingsmill, Han Wu-ti, China Review_, XXV. 103–109.]) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Ramusio alone has “a great _salt_ lake.” CHAPTER XLVIII. CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN. When you have passed that River you enter on the province of CARAJAN, which is so large that it includes seven kingdoms. It lies towards the west; the people are Idolaters, and they are subject to the Great Kaan. A son of his, however, is there as King of the country, by name ESSENTIMUR; a very great and rich and puissant Prince; and he well and justly rules his dominion, for he is a wise man, and a valiant. After leaving the river that I spoke of, you go five days’ journey towards the west, meeting with numerous towns and villages. The country is one in which excellent horses are bred, and the people live by cattle and agriculture. They have a language of their own which is passing hard to understand. At the end of those five days’ journey you come to the capital, which is called YACHI, a very great and noble city, in which are numerous merchants and craftsmen.{1} [Illustration: _Pa-y_ script.] The people are of sundry kinds, for there are not only Saracens and Idolaters, but also a few Nestorian Christians.{2} They have wheat and rice in plenty. Howbeit they never eat wheaten bread, because in that country it is unwholesome.{3} Rice they eat, and make of it sundry messes, besides a kind of drink which is very clear and good, and makes a man drunk just as wine does. Their money is such as I will tell you. They use for the purpose certain white porcelain shells that are found in the sea, such as are sometimes put on dogs’ collars; and 80 of these porcelain shells pass for a single weight of silver, equivalent to two Venice groats, _i.e._ 24 piccoli. Also eight such weights of silver count equal to one such weight of gold.{4} They have brine-wells in this country from which they make salt, and all the people of those parts make a living by this salt. The King, too, I can assure you, gets a great revenue from this salt.{5} There is a lake in this country of a good hundred miles in compass, in which are found great quantities of the best fish in the world; fish of great size, and of all sorts. They reckon it no matter for a man to have intimacy with another’s wife, provided the woman be willing. Let me tell you also that the people of that country eat their meat raw, whether it be of mutton, beef, buffalo, poultry, or any other kind. Thus the poor people will go to the shambles, and take the raw liver as it comes from the carcase and cut it small, and put it in a sauce of garlic and spices, and so eat it; and other meat in like manner, raw, just as we eat meat that is dressed.{6} Now I will tell you about a further part of the Province of Carajan, of which I have been speaking. NOTE 1.—We have now arrived at the great province of CARAJAN, the KARÁJÁNG of the Mongols, which we know to be YUN-NAN, and at its capital YACHI, which—I was about to add—we know to be YUN-NAN-FU. But I find all the commentators make it something else. Rashiduddin, however, in his detail of the twelve Sings or provincial governments of China under the Mongols, thus speaks: “10th, KARÁJÁNG. This used to be an independent kingdom, and the Sing is established at the great city of YÁCHI. All the inhabitants are Mahomedans. The chiefs are Noyan Takin, and Yaḳub Beg, son of ’Ali Beg, the Belúch.” And turning to Pauthier’s corrected account of the same distribution of the empire from authentic Chinese sources (p. 334), we find: “8. The administrative province of Yun-nan.... Its capital, chief town also of the canton of the same name, was called _Chung-khing_, now YUN-NAN-FU.” Hence Yachi was Yun-nan-fu. This is still a large city, having a rectangular rampart with 6 gates, and a circuit of about 6½ miles. The suburbs were destroyed by the Mahomedan rebels. The most important trade there now is in the metallic produce of the Province. [According to _Oxenham, Historical Atlas_, there were _ten_ provinces or _sheng_ (Liao-yang, Chung-shu, Shen-si, Ho-nan, Sze-ch’wan, _Yun-nan_, Hu-kwang, Kiang-che, Kiang-si and Kan-suh) and _twelve_ military governorships.—H. C.] _Yachi_ was perhaps an ancient corruption of the name _Yichau_, which the territory bore (according to Martini and Biot) under the Han; but more probably _Yichau_ was a Chinese transformation of the real name _Yachi_. The Shans still call the city Muang _Chi_, which is perhaps another modification of the same name. We have thus got Ch’êng-tu fu as one fixed point, and Yun-nan-fu as another, and we have to track the traveller’s itinerary between the two, through what Ritter called with reason a _terra incognita_. What little was known till recently of this region came from the Catholic missionaries. Of late the veil has begun to be lifted; the daring excursion of Francis Garnier and his party in 1868 intersected the tract towards the south; Mr. T. T. Cooper crossed it further north, by Ta-t’sien lu, Lithang and Bathang; Baron v. Richthofen in 1872 had penetrated several marches towards the heart of the mystery, when an unfortunate mishap compelled his return, but he brought back with him much precious information. Five days forward from Ch’êng-tu fu brought us on Tibetan ground. Five days backward from Yun-nan fu should bring us to the river Brius, with its gold-dust and the frontier of Caindu. Wanting a local scale for a distance of five days, I find that our next point in advance, Marco’s city of Carajan undisputably _Tali-fu_, is said by him to be ten days from Yachi. The direct distance between the cities of Yun-nan and Ta-li I find by measurement on Keith Johnston’s map to be 133 Italian miles. [The distance by road is 215 English miles. (See _Baber_, p. 191.)—H. C.] Taking half this as radius, the compasses swept from Yun-nan-fu as centre, intersect near its most southerly elbow the great upper branch of the Kiang, the _Kin-sha Kiang_ of the Chinese, or “River of the Golden Sands,” the MURUS USSU and BRICHU of the Mongols and Tibetans, and manifestly the auriferous BRIUS of our traveller.[1] Hence also the country north of this elbow is CAINDU. [Illustration: Garden-House on the Lake at Yun-nan-fu, Yachi of Polo. (From Garnier.) “=Je voz di q’il ont un lac qe gire environ bien cent miles.=”] I leave the preceding paragraph as it stood in the first edition, because it shows how _near_ the true position of Caindu these unaided deductions from our author’s data had carried me. That paragraph was followed by an erroneous hypothesis as to the intermediate part of that journey, but, thanks to the new light shed by Baron Richthofen, we are enabled now to lay down the whole itinerary from Ch’êng-tu fu to Yun-nan fu with confidence in its accuracy. The Kin-sha Kiang or Upper course of the Great Yang-tzŭ, descending from Tibet to Yun-nan, forms the great bight or elbow to which allusion has just been made, and which has been a feature known to geographers ever since the publication of D’Anville’s atlas. The tract enclosed in this elbow is cut in two by another great Tibetan River, the Yarlung, or Yalung-Kiang, which joins the Kin-sha not far from the middle of the great bight; and this Yalung, just before the confluence, receives on the left a stream of inferior calibre, the Ngan-ning Ho, which also flows in a valley parallel to the meridian, like all that singular _fascis_ of great rivers between Assam and Sze-ch’wan. This River Ngan-ning waters a valley called Kien-ch’ang, containing near its northern end a city known by the same name, but in our modern maps marked as Ning-yuan fu; this last being the name of a department of which it is the capital, and which embraces much more than the valley of Kien-ch’ang. The town appears, however, as Kien-ch’ang in the _Atlas Sinensis_ of Martini, and as _Kienchang-ouei_ in D’Anville. This remarkable valley, imbedded as it were in a wilderness of rugged highlands and wild races, accessible only by two or three long and difficult routes, rejoices in a warm climate, a most productive soil, scenery that seems to excite enthusiasm even in Chinamen, and a population noted for amiable temper. Towns and villages are numerous. The people are said to be descended from Chinese immigrants, but their features have little of the Chinese type, and they have probably a large infusion of aboriginal blood. [Kien-ch’ang, “otherwise the Prefecture of Ning-yuan, is perhaps the least known of the Eighteen Provinces,” writes Mr. Baber. (_Travels_, p. 58.) “Two or three sentences in the book of Ser Marco, to the effect that after crossing high mountains, he reached a fertile country containing many towns and villages, and inhabited by a very immoral population, constitute to this day the only description we possess of _Cain-du_, as he calls the district.” Baber adds (p. 82): “Although the main valley of Kien-ch’ang is now principally inhabited by Chinese, yet the Sifan or Menia people are frequently met with, and most of the villages possess two names, one Chinese, and the other indigenous. Probably in Marco Polo’s time a Menia population predominated, and the valley was regarded as part of Menia. If Marco had heard that name, he would certainly have recorded it; but it is not one which is likely to reach the ears of a stranger. The Chinese people and officials never employ it, but use in its stead an alternative name, _Chan-tu_ or _Chan-tui_, of precisely the same application, which I make bold to offer as the original of Marco’s Caindu, or preferably Ciandu.”—H. C.] This valley is bounded on the east by the mountain country of the Lolos, which extends north nearly to Yachau (_supra_, pp. 45, 48, 60), and which, owing to the fierce intractable character of the race, forms throughout its whole length an impenetrable barrier between East and West. [The Rev. Gray Owen, of Ch’êng-tu, wrote (_Jour. China B. R. A. S._ xxviii. 1893–1894, p. 59): “The only great trade route infested by brigands is that from Ya-chau to Ning-yuan fu, where Lo-lo brigands are numerous, especially in the autumn. Last year I heard of a convoy of 18 mules with Shen-si goods on the above-mentioned road captured by these brigands, muleteers and all taken inside the Lo-lo country. It is very seldom that captives get out of Lo-lo-dom, because the ransom asked is too high, and the Chinese officials are not gallant enough to buy out their unfortunate countrymen. The Lo-los hold thousands of Chinese in slavery; and more are added yearly to the number.”—H. C.] Two routes run from Ch’êng-tu fu to Yun-nan; these fork at Ya-chau and thenceforward are entirely separated by this barrier. To the east of it is the route which descends the Min River to Siu-chau, and then passes by Chao-tong and Tong-chuan to Yun-nan fu: to the west of the barrier is a route leading through Kien-ch’ang to Ta-li fu, but throwing off a branch from Ning-yuan southward in the direction of Yun-nan fu. This road from Ch’êng-tu fu to Ta-li by Ya-chau and Ning-yuan appears to be that by which the greater part of the goods for Bhamó and Ava used to travel before the recent Mahomedan rebellion; it is almost certainly the road by which Kúblái, in 1253, during the reign of his brother Mangku Kaan, advanced to the conquest of Ta-li, then the head of an independent kingdom in Western Yun-nan. As far as Ts’ing-k’i hien, 3 marches beyond Ya-chau, this route coincides with the great Tibet road by Ta-t’sien lu and Bathang to L’hása, and then it diverges to the left. We may now say without hesitation that by this road Marco travelled. His _Tibet_ commences with the mountain region near Ya-chau; his 20 days’ journey through a devastated and dispeopled tract is the journey to Ning-yuan fu. Even now, from Ts’ing-k’i onwards for several days, not a single inhabited place is seen. The official route from Ya-chau to Ning-yuan lays down 13 stages, but it generally takes from 15 to 18 days. Polo, whose journeys seem often to have been shorter than the modern average,[2] took 20. On descending from the highlands he comes once more into a populated region, and enters the charming Valley of Kien-ch’ang. This valley, with its capital near the upper extremity, its numerous towns and villages, its cassia, its spiced wine, and its termination southward on the River of the Golden Sands, is CAINDU. The traveller’s road from Ningyuan to Yunnanfu probably lay through Hwei-li, and the Kin-sha Kiang would be crossed as already indicated, near its most southerly bend, and almost due north of Yun-nan fu. (See _Richthofen_ as quoted at pp. 45–46.) As regards the _name_ of CAINDU or GHEINDU (as in G. T.), I think we may safely recognise in the last syllable the _do_ which is so frequent a termination of Tibetan names (Amdo, Tsiamdo, etc.); whilst the _Cain_, as Baron Richthofen has pointed out, probably survives in the first part of the name _Kien_chang. [Baber writes (pp. 80–81): “Colonel Yule sees in the word _Caindu_ a variation of ‘Chien-ch’ang,’ and supposes the syllable ‘du’ to be the same as the termination ‘du,’ ‘do,’ or ‘tu,’ so frequent in Tibetan names. In such names, however, ‘do’ never means a district, but always a confluence, or a town near a confluence, as might almost be guessed from a map of Tibet.... Unsatisfied with Colonel Yule’s identification, I cast about for another, and thought for a while that a clue had been found in the term ‘Chien-t’ou’ (sharp-head), applied to certain Lolo tribes. But the idea had to be abandoned, since Marco Polo’s anecdote about the ‘caitiff,’ and the loose manners of his family, could never have referred to the Lolos, who are admitted even by their Chinese enemies to possess a very strict code indeed of domestic regulations. The Lolos being eliminated, the Si-fans remained; and before we had been many days in their neighbourhood, stories were told us of their conduct which a polite pen refuses to record. It is enough to say that Marco’s account falls rather short of the truth, and most obviously applies to the Si-fan.” Devéria (_Front._ p. 146 note) says that Kien-ch’ang is the ancient territory of Kiung-tu which, under the Han Dynasty, fell into the hands of the Tibetans, and was made by the Mongols the march of Kien-ch’ang (_Che-Kong-t’u_); it is the _Caindu_ of Marco Polo; under the Han Dynasty it was the Kiun or division of Yueh-sui or Yueh-hsi. Devéria quotes from the _Yuen-shi-lei pien_ the following passage relating to the year 1284: “The twelve tribes of the Barbarians to the south-west of _Kien-tou_ and _Kin-Chi_ submitted; Kien-tou was administered by Mien (Burma); Kien-tou submits because the Kingdom of Mien has been vanquished.” Kien-tou is the _Chien-t’ou_ of Baber, the Caindu of Marco Polo. (_Mélanges de Harlez_, p. 97.) According to Mr. E. H. Parker (_China Review_, xix. p. 69), Yueh-hsi or Yueh-sui “is the modern Kien-ch’ang Valley, the Caindu of Marco Polo, between the Yalung and Yang-tzŭ Rivers; the only non-Chinese races found there now are the Si-fan and Lolos.”—H. C.] [Illustration: Road descending from the Table-Land of Yun-nan into the Valley of the Kin-sha Kiang (the _Brius_ of Polo). (After Garnier.)] Turning to minor particulars, the Lake of Caindu in which the pearls were found is doubtless one lying near Ning-yuan, whose beauty Richthofen heard greatly extolled, though nothing of the pearls. [Mr. Hosie writes (_Three Years_, 112–113): “If the former tradition be true (the old city of Ning-yuan having given place to a large lake in the early years of the Ming Dynasty), the lake had no existence when Marco Polo passed through Caindu, and yet we find him mentioning a lake in the country in which pearls were found. Curiously enough, although I had not then read the Venetian’s narrative, one of the many things told me regarding the lake was that pearls are found in it, and specimens were brought to me for inspection.” The lake lies to the south-east of the present city.—H. C.] A small lake is marked by D’Anville, close to Kien-ch’ang, under the name of _Gechoui-tang_. The large quantities of gold derived from the Kin-sha Kiang, and the abundance of musk in that vicinity, are testified to by Martini. The Lake mentioned by Polo as existing in the territory of Yachi is no doubt the _Tien-chi_, the Great Lake on the shore of which the city of Yun-nan stands, and from which boats make their way by canals along the walls and streets. Its circumference, according to Martini, is 500 _li_. The cut (p. 68), from Garnier, shows this lake as seen from a villa on its banks. [Devéria (p. 129) quotes this passage from the _Yuen-shi-lei pien_: “Yachi, of which the _U-man_ or Black Barbarians made their capital, is surrounded by Lake _Tien-chi_ on three sides.” Tien-chi is one of the names of Lake Kwen-ming, on the shore of which is built Yun-nan fu.—H. C.] Returning now to the Karájang of the Mongols, or Carajan, as Polo writes it, we shall find that the latter distinguishes this great province, which formerly, he says, included seven kingdoms, into two Mongol Governments, the seat of one being at Yachi, which we have seen to be Yun-nan fu, and that of the other at a city to which he gives the name of the Province, and which we shall find to be the existing Ta-li fu. Great confusion has been created in most of the editions by a distinction in the form of the name as applied to these two governments. Thus Ramusio prints the province under Yachi as _Carajan_, and that under Ta-li as _Carazan_, whilst Marsden, following out his system for the conversion of Ramusio’s orthography, makes the former _Karaian_ and the latter _Karazan_. Pauthier prints _Caraian_ all through, a fact so far valuable as showing that his texts make no distinction between the names of the two governments, but the form impedes the recognition of the old Mongol nomenclature. I have no doubt that the name all through should be read _Carajan_, and on this I have acted. In the Geog. Text we find the name given at the end of ch. xlvii. _Caragian_, in ch. xlviii. as _Carajan_, in ch. xlix. as _Caraian_, thus just reversing the distinction made by Marsden. The Crusca has _Charagia(n)_ all through. The name then was _Ḳará-jáng_, in which the first element was the Mongol or Turki _Ḳárá_, “Black.” For we find in another passage of Rashid the following information:[3]—“To the south-west of Cathay is the country called by the Chinese _Dailiu_ or ‘Great Realm,’ and by the Mongols _Ḳarájáng_, in the language of India and Kashmir _Ḳandar_, and by us _Ḳandahár_. This country, which is of vast extent, is bounded on one side by Tibet and Tangut, and on others by Mongolia, Cathay, and the country of the Gold-Teeth. The King of Ḳarajang uses the title of _Mahárá_, _i.e._ Great King. The capital is called Yachi, and there the Council of Administration is established. Among the inhabitants of this country some are black, and others are white; these latter are called by the Mongols _Chaghán-Jáng_ (‘White Jang’).” _Jang_ has not been explained; but probably it may have been a Tibetan term adopted by the Mongols, and the colours may have applied to their clothing. The dominant race at the Mongol invasion seems to have been Shans;[4] and black jackets are the characteristic dress of the Shans whom one sees in Burma in modern times. The Kara-jang and Chaghan-jang appear to correspond also to the _U-man_ and _Pe-man_, or Black Barbarians and White Barbarians, who are mentioned by Chinese authorities as conquered by the Mongols. It would seem from one of Pauthier’s Chinese quotations (p. 388), that the Chaghan-jang were found in the vicinity of Li-kiang fu. (_D’Ohsson_, II. 317; _J. R. Geog. Soc._ III. 294.) [Dr. Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ I. p. 184) says that in the description of Yun-nan, in the _Yuen-shi_, “_Cara-jang_ and _Chagan-jang_ are rendered by _Wu-man_ and _Po-man_ (Black and White Barbarians). But in the biographies of _Djao-a-k’o-p’an_, _A-r-szelan_ (_Yuen-shi_, ch. cxxiii.), and others, these tribes are mentioned under the names of _Ha-la-djang_ and _Ch’a-han-djang_, as the Mongols used to call them; and in the biography of _Wu-liang-ho t’ai_, [Uriang kadai], the conqueror of Yun-nan, it is stated that the capital of the Black Barbarians was called _Yach’i_. It is described there as a city surrounded by lakes from three sides.”—H. C.] [Illustration: A Saracen of Carajan, being a portrait of a Mahomedan Mullah in Western Yun-nan. (From Garnier’s Work.) “=Les sunt des plosors maineres, car il hi a jens qe aorent Maomet.=”] Regarding Rashiduddin’s application of the name _Ḳandahár_ or Gandhára to Yun-nan, and curious points connected therewith, I must refer to a paper of mine in the _J. R. A. Society_ (N.S. IV. 356). But I may mention that in the ecclesiastical translation of the classical localities of Indian Buddhism to Indo-China, which is current in Burma, Yun-nan represents Gandhára,[5] and is still so styled in state documents (_Gandálarít_). What has been said of the supposed name _Caraian_ disposes, I trust, of the fancies which have connected the origin of the _Karens_ of Burma with it. More groundless still is M. Pauthier’s deduction of the _Talains_ of Pegu (as the Burmese call them) from the people of Ta-li, who fled from Kúblái’s invasion. NOTE 2.—The existence of Nestorians in this remote province is very notable [see _Bonin, J. As._ XV. 1900, pp. 589–590.—H. C.]; and also the early prevalence of Mahomedanism, which Rashiduddin intimates in stronger terms. “All the inhabitants of Yachi,” he says, “are Mahomedans.” This was no doubt an exaggeration, but the Mahomedans seem always to have continued to be an important body in Yun-nan up to our own day. In 1855 began their revolt against the imperial authority, which for a time resulted in the establishment of their independence in Western Yun-nan under a chief whom they called Sultan Suleiman. A proclamation in remarkably good Arabic, announcing the inauguration of his reign, appears to have been circulated to Mahomedans in foreign states, and a copy of it some years ago found its way through the Nepalese agent at L’hasa, into the hands of Colonel Ramsay, the British Resident at Katmandu.[6] NOTE 3.—Wheat grows as low as Ava, but there also it is not used by natives for bread, only for confectionery and the like. The same is the case in Eastern China. (See ch. xxvi. note 4, and _Middle Kingdom_, II. 43.) NOTE 4.—The word _piccoli_ is supplied, doubtfully, in lieu of an unknown symbol. If correct, then we should read “24 piccoli _each_,” for this was about the equivalent of a grosso. This is the first time Polo mentions cowries, which he calls _porcellani_. This might have been rendered by the corresponding vernacular name “_Pig-shells_,” applied to certain shells of that genus (_Cypraea_) in some parts of England. It is worthy of note that as the name _porcellana_ has been transferred from these shells to China-ware, so the word _pig_ has been in Scotland applied to crockery; whether the process has been analogous, I cannot say. Klaproth states that Yun-nan is the only country of China in which cowries had continued in use, though in ancient times they were more generally diffused. According to him 80 cowries were equivalent to 6 _cash_, or a half-penny. About 1780 in Eastern Bengal 80 cowries were worth ⅜th of a penny, and some 40 years ago, when Prinsep compiled his tables in Calcutta (where cowries were still in use a few years ago, if they are not now), 80 cowries were worth ³⁄₁₀ of a penny. At the time of the Mahomedan conquest of Bengal, early in the 13th century, they found the currency exclusively composed of cowries, aided perhaps by bullion in large transactions, but with no coined money. In remote districts this continued to modern times. When the Hon. Robert Lindsay went as Resident and Collector to Silhet about 1778, cowries constituted nearly the whole currency of the Province. The yearly revenue amounted to 250,000 rupees, and this was entirely paid in cowries at the rate of 5120 to the rupee. It required large warehouses to contain them, and when the year’s collection was complete a large fleet of boats to transport them to Dacca. Before Lindsay’s time it had been the custom to _count_ the whole before embarking them! Down to 1801 the Silhet revenue was entirely collected in cowries, but by 1813, the whole was realised in specie. (_Thomas_, in _J. R. A. S._ N.S. II. 147; _Lives of the Lindsays_, III. 169, 170.) Klaproth’s statement has ceased to be correct. Lieutenant Garnier found cowries nowhere in use north of Luang Prabang; and among the Kakhyens in Western Yun-nan these shells are used only for ornament. [However, Mr. E. H. Parker says (_China Review_, XXVI. p. 106) that the porcelain money still circulates in the Shan States, and that he saw it there himself.—H. C.] [Illustration: The Canal at Yun-nan fu.] NOTE 5.—See ch. xlvii. note 4. Martini speaks of a great brine-well to the N.E. of Yaogan (W.N.W. of the city of Yun-nan), which supplied the whole country round. NOTE 6.—Two particulars appearing in these latter paragraphs are alluded to by Rashiduddin in giving a brief account of the overland route from India to China, which is unfortunately very obscure: “Thence you arrive at the borders of Tibet, where they _eat raw meat_ and worship images, _and have no shame respecting their wives_.” (_Elliot_, I. p. 73.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] [Baber writes (p. 107): “The river is never called locally by any other name than _Kin-ho_, or ‘Gold River.’[A] The term _Kin-sha-Kiang_ should in strictness be confined to the Tibetan course of the stream; as applied to other parts it is a mere book name. There is no great objection to its adoption, except that it is unintelligible to the inhabitants of the banks, and is liable to mislead travellers in search of indigenous information, but at any rate it should not be supposed to asperse Marco Polo’s accuracy. _Gold River_ is the local name from the junction of the Yalung to about P’ing-shan; below P’ing-shan it is known by various designations, but the Ssu-ch’uanese naturally call it ‘the River,’ or, by contrast with its affluents, the ‘Big River’ (_Ta-ho_).” I imagine that Baber here makes a slight mistake, and that they use the name _kiang_, and not _ho_, for the river.—H. C.] [Mr. Rockhill remarks (_Land of the Lamas_, p. 196 note) that “Marco Polo speaks of the Yang-tzŭ as the _Brius_, and Orazio della Penna calls it _Biciu_, both words representing the Tibetan _Dré ch’u_. This last name has been frequently translated ‘Cow yak River,’ but this is certainly not its meaning, as cow yak is _dri-mo_, never pronounced _dré_, and unintelligible without the suffix, _mo_. _Dré_ may mean either mule, dirty, or rice, but as I have never seen the word written, I cannot decide on any of these terms, all of which have exactly the same pronunciation. The Mongols call it _Murus osu_, and in books this is sometimes changed to _Murui osu_, ‘Tortuous river.’ The Chinese call it _Tung t’ien ho_, ‘River of all Heaven.’ The name _Kin-sha kiang_, ‘River of Golden Sand,’ is used for it from Bat’ang to Sui-fu, or thereabouts.” The general name for the river is _Ta-Kiang_ (Great River), or simply _Kiang_, in contradistinction to _Ho_, for _Hwang-Ho_ (Yellow River) in Northern China.—H. C.] [2] Baron Richthofen, who has travelled hundreds of miles in his footsteps, considers his allowance of time to be generally from ¼ to ⅓ greater than that now usual. [3] See _Quatremère’s Rashiduddin_, pp. lxxxvi.–xcvi. My quotation is made up from _two_ citations by Quatremère, one from his text of Rashiduddin, and the other from the History of Benaketi, which Quatremère shows to have been drawn from Rashiduddin, whilst it contains some particulars not existing in his own text of that author. [4] The title _Chao_ in _Nan-Chao_ (_infra_, p. 79) is said by a Chinese author (Pauthier, p. 391) to signify _King_ in the language of those barbarians. This is evidently the _Chao_ which forms an essential part of the title of all Siamese and Shan princes. [Regarding the word _Nan-Chao_, Mr. Parker (_China Review_, XX. p. 339) writes “In the barbarian tongue ‘prince’ is _Chao_,” says the Chinese author; and there were six _Chao_, of which the _Nan_ or Southern was the leading power. Hence the name Nan-Chao ... it is hardly necessary for me to say that _chao_ or _kyiao_ is still the Shan-Siamese word for ‘prince.’” Pallegoix (_Dict._ p. 85) has _Chào_, Princeps, rex.—H. C.] [5] _Gandhára_, Arabicé _Ḳandahár_, is properly the country about Peshawar, _Gandaritis_ of Strabo. [6] This is printed almost in full in the French _Voyage d’Exploration_, I. 564. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [A] Marco Polo nowhere calls the river “Gold River,” the name he gives it is _Brius_.—H. Y. CHAPTER XLIX. CONCERNING A FURTHER PART OF THE PROVINCE OF CARAJAN. After leaving that city of Yachi of which I have been speaking, and travelling ten days towards the west, you come to another capital city which is still in the province of Carajan, and is itself called Carajan. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan; and the King is COGACHIN, who is a son of the Great Kaan.{1} In this country gold-dust is found in great quantities; that is to say in the rivers and lakes, whilst in the mountains gold is also found in pieces of larger size. Gold is indeed so abundant that they give one _saggio_ of gold for only six of the same weight in silver. And for small change they use porcelain shells as I mentioned before. These are not found in the country, however, but are brought from India.{2} In this province are found snakes and great serpents of such vast size as to strike fear into those who see them, and so hideous that the very account of them must excite the wonder of those to hear it. I will tell you how long and big they are. You may be assured that some of them are ten paces in length; some are more and some less. And in bulk they are equal to a great cask, for the bigger ones are about ten palms in girth. They have two forelegs near the head, but for foot nothing but a claw like the claw of a hawk or that of a lion. The head is very big, and the eyes are bigger than a great loaf of bread. The mouth is large enough to swallow a man whole, and is garnished with great [pointed] teeth. And in short they are so fierce-looking and so hideously ugly, that every man and beast must stand in fear and trembling of them. There are also smaller ones, such as of eight paces long, and of five, and of one pace only. The way in which they are caught is this. You must know that by day they live underground because of the great heat, and in the night they go out to feed, and devour every animal they can catch. They go also to drink at the rivers and lakes and springs. And their weight is so great that when they travel in search of food or drink, as they do by night, the tail makes a great furrow in the soil as if a full ton of liquor had been dragged along. Now the huntsmen who go after them take them by certain gyn which they set in the track over which the serpent has past, knowing that the beast will come back the same way. They plant a stake deep in the ground and fix on the head of this a sharp blade of steel made like a razor or a lance-point, and then they cover the whole with sand so that the serpent cannot see it. Indeed the huntsman plants several such stakes and blades on the track. On coming to the spot the beast strikes against the iron blade with such force that it enters his breast and rives him up to the navel, so that he dies on the spot [and the crows on seeing the brute dead begin to caw, and then the huntsmen know that the serpent is dead and come in search of him]. This then is the way these beasts are taken. Those who take them proceed to extract the gall from the inside, and this sells at a great price; for you must know it furnishes the material for a most precious medicine. Thus if a person is bitten by a mad dog, and they give him but a small pennyweight of this medicine to drink, he is cured in a moment. Again if a woman is hard in labour they give her just such another dose and she is delivered at once. Yet again if one has any disease like the itch, or it may be worse, and applies a small quantity of this gall he shall speedily be cured. So you see why it sells at such a high price. [Illustration: “Riding long like Frenchmen.” “=Et encore sachié qe ceste gens chevauchent lonc come franchois.=”] They also sell the flesh of this serpent, for it is excellent eating, and the people are very fond of it. And when these serpents are very hungry, sometimes they will seek out the lairs of lions or bears or other large wild beasts, and devour their cubs, without the sire and dam being able to prevent it. Indeed if they catch the big ones themselves they devour them too; they can make no resistance.{3} In this province also are bred large and excellent horses which are taken to India for sale. And you must know that the people dock two or three joints of the tail from their horses, to prevent them from flipping their riders, a thing which they consider very unseemly. They ride long like Frenchmen, and wear armour of boiled leather, and carry spears and shields and arblasts, and all their quarrels are poisoned.{4} [And I was told as a fact that many persons, especially those meditating mischief, constantly carry this poison about with them, so that if by any chance they should be taken, and be threatened with torture, to avoid this they swallow the poison and so die speedily. But princes who are aware of this keep ready dog’s dung, which they cause the criminal instantly to swallow, to make him vomit the poison. And thus they manage to cure those scoundrels.] [Illustration: The Lake of Tali (Carajan of Polo) from the Northern End.] [Illustration: Suspension Bridge, neighbourhood of Tali.] I will tell you of a wicked thing they used to do before the Great Kaan conquered them. If it chanced that a man of fine person or noble birth, or some other quality that recommended him, came to lodge with those people, then they would murder him by poison, or otherwise. And this they did, not for the sake of plunder, but because they believed that in this way the goodly favour and wisdom and repute of the murdered man would cleave to the house where he was slain. And in this manner many were murdered before the country was conquered by the Great Kaan. But since his conquest, some 35 years ago, these crimes and this evil practice have prevailed no more; and this through dread of the Great Kaan who will not permit such things.{5} NOTE 1.—There can be no doubt that this second chief city of Carajan is TALI-FU, which was the capital of the Shan Kingdom called by the Chinese Nan-Chao. This kingdom had subsisted in Yun-nan since 738, and probably had embraced the upper part of the Irawadi Valley. For the Chinese tell us it was also called _Maung_, and it probably was identical with the Shan Kingdom of Muang Maorong or of _Pong_, of which Captain Pemberton procured a Chronicle. [In A.D. 650, the Ai-Lao, the most ancient name by which the Shans were known to the Chinese, became the Nan-Chao. The Mêng family ruled the country from the 7th century; towards the middle of the 8th century, P’i-lo-ko, who is the real founder of the Thai kingdom of Nan-Chao, received from the Chinese the title of King of Yun-Nan and made T’ai-ho, 15 _lis_ south of Ta-li, his residence; he died in 748. In A.D. 938, Twan Sze-ying, of an old Chinese family, took Ta-li and established there an independent kingdom. In 1115 embassies with China were exchanged, and the Emperor conferred (1119) upon Twan Ch’êng-yn the title of King of Ta-li (_Ta-li Kwo Wang_). Twan Siang-hing was the last king of Ta-li (1239–1251). In 1252 the Kingdom of Nan-Chao was destroyed by the Mongols; the Emperor She Tsu (Kúblái) gave the title of Maháraja (_Mo-ho Lo-tso_) to Twan Hing-che (son of Twan Siang-hing), who had fled to Yun-Nan fu and was captured there. Afterwards (1261) the Twan are known as the eleven _Tsung-Kwan_ (governors); the last of them, Twan Ming, was made a prisoner by an army sent by the Ming Emperors, and sent to Nan-King (1381). (_E. H. Parker, Early Laos and China, China Review_, XIX. and the _Old Thai or Shan Empire of Western Yun-Nan_, _Ibid._, XX.; _E. Rocher, Hist. des Princes du Yunnan, T’oung Pao_, 1899; _E. Chavannes, Une Inscription du roy. de Nan Tchao, J.A._, November–December, 1900; _M. Tchang, Tableau des Souverains de Nan-Tchao, Bul. Ecole Franç. d’Ext. Orient_, I. No. 4.)—H. C.] The city of Ta-li was taken by Kúblái in 1253–1254. The circumstance that it was known to the invaders (as appeals from Polo’s statement) by the name of the province is an indication of the fact that it was the capital of Carajan before the conquest. [“That _Yachi_ and _Carajan_ represent Yünnan-fu and Tali, is proved by topographical and other evidence of an overwhelming nature. I venture to add one more proof, which seems to have been overlooked. “If there is a natural feature which must strike any visitor to those two cities, it is that they both lie on the shore of notable lakes, of so large an extent as to be locally called seas; and for the comparison, it should be remembered that the inhabitants of the Yünnan province have easy access to the ocean by the Red River, or Sung Ka. Now, although Marco does not circumstantially specify the fact of these cities lying on large bodies of water, yet in both cases, two or three sentences further on, will be found mention of lakes; in the case of Yachi, ‘a lake of a good hundred miles in compass’—by no means an unreasonable estimate. “Tali-fu is renowned as the strongest hold of Western Yünnan, and it certainly must have been impregnable to bow and spear. From the western margin of its majestic lake, which lies approximately north and south, rises a sloping plain of about three miles average breadth, closed in by the huge wall of the Tien-tsang Mountains. In the midst of this plain stands the city, the lake at its feet, the snowy summits at its back. On either flank, at about twelve and six miles distance respectively, are situated Shang-Kuan and Hsia-Kuan (upper and lower passes), two strongly fortified towns guarding the confined strip between mountain and lake; for the plain narrows at the two extremities, and is intersected by a river at both points.” (_Baber_, _Travels_, 155.)—H. C.] The distance from Yachi to this city of Karajang is ten days, and this corresponds well with the distance from Yun-nan fu to Tali-fu. For we find that, of the three Burmese Embassies whose itineraries are given by Burney, one makes 7 marches between those cities, specifying 2 of them as double marches, therefore equal to 9, whilst the other two make 11 marches; Richthofen’s information gives 12. Ta-li-fu is a small old city overlooking its large lake (about 24 miles long by 6 wide), and an extensive plain devoid of trees. Lofty mountains rise on the south side of the city. The Lake appears to communicate with the Mekong, and the story goes, no doubt fabulous, that boats have come up to Ta-li from the Ocean. [Captain Gill (II. pp. 299–300) writes: “Ta-li fu is an ancient city ... it is the Carajan of Marco Polo.... Marco’s description of the lake of Yun-Nan may be perfectly well applied to the Lake of Ta-li.... The fish were particularly commended to our notice, though we were told that there were no oysters in this lake, as there are said to be in that of Yun-Nan; if the latter statement be true, it would illustrate Polo’s account of another lake somewhere in these regions in which are found pearls (which are white but not round).”—H. C.] Ta-li fu was recently the capital of Sultan Suleiman [Tu Wen-siu]. It was reached by Lieutenant Garnier in a daring détour by the north of Yun-nan, but his party were obliged to leave in haste on the second day after their arrival. The city was captured by the Imperial officers in 1873, when a horrid massacre of the Mussulmans took place [19th January]. The Sultan took poison, but his head was cut off and sent to Peking. Momein fell soon after [10th June], and the _Panthé_ kingdom is ended. We see that Polo says the King ruling for Kúblái at this city was a son of the Kaan, called COGACHIN, whilst he told us in the last chapter that the King reigning at Yachi was also a son of the Kaan, called ESSENTIMUR. It is probably a mere lapsus or error of dictation calling the latter a son of the Kaan, for in ch. li. _infra_, this prince is correctly described as the Kaan’s grandson. Rashiduddin tells us that Kúblái had given his son HUKÁJI (or perhaps _Hogáchi_, _i.e._ Cogachin) the government of Karajang,[1] and that after the death of this Prince the government was continued to his son ISENTIMUR. Klaproth gives the date of the latter’s nomination from the Chinese Annals as 1280. It is not easy to reconcile Marco’s statements perfectly with a knowledge of these facts; but we may suppose that, in speaking of Cogachin as ruling at Karajang (or Tali-fu) and Esentimur at Yachi, he describes things as they stood when his visit occurred, whilst in the second reference to “Sentemur’s” being King in the province and his father dead, he speaks from later knowledge. This interpretation would confirm what has been already deduced from other circumstances, that his visit to Yun-nan was prior to 1280. (_Pemberton’s Report on the Eastern Frontier_, 108 _seqq._; _Quat. Rashid._ pp. lxxxix-xc.; _Journ. Asiat._ sér. II. vol. i.) NOTE 2.—[Captain Gill writes (II. p. 302): “There are said to be very rich gold and silver mines within a few days’ journey of the city” (of Ta-li). Dr. Anderson says (_Mandalay to Momien_, p. 203): “Gold is brought to Momein from Yonephin and Sherg-wan villages, fifteen days’ march to the north-east; but no information could be obtained as to the quantity found. It is also brought in leaf, which is sent to Burma, where it is in extensive demand.”—H. C.] NOTE 3.—It cannot be doubted that Marco’s serpents here are crocodiles, in spite of his strange mistakes about their having only two feet and one claw on each, and his imperfect knowledge of their aquatic habits. He may have seen only a mutilated specimen. But there is no mistaking the hideous ferocity of the countenance, and the “eyes bigger than a fourpenny loaf,” as Ramusio has it. Though the actual _eye_ of the crocodile does not bear this comparison, the prominent _orbits_ do, especially in the case of the _Ghaṛiyál_ of the Ganges, and form one of the most repulsive features of the reptile’s physiognomy. In fact, its presence on the surface of an Indian river is often recognisable only by three dark knobs rising above the surface, viz. the snout and the two orbits. And there is some foundation for what our author says of the animal’s habits, for the crocodile does sometimes frequent holes at a distance from water, of which a striking instance is within my own recollection (in which the deep furrowed track also was a notable circumstance). The Cochin Chinese are very fond of crocodile’s flesh, and there is or was a regular export of this dainty for their use from Kamboja. I have known it eaten by certain classes in India. (_J. R. G. S._ XXX. 193.) The term _serpent_ is applied by many old writers to crocodiles and the like, _e.g._ by Odoric, and perhaps allusively by Shakspeare (“_Where’s my Serpent of Old Nile?_”). Mr. Fergusson tells me he was once much struck with the _snake-like_ motion of a group of crocodiles hastily descending to the water from a high sand-bank, without apparent use of the limbs, when surprised by the approach of a boat.[2] Matthioli says the gall of the crocodile surpasses all medicines for the removal of pustules and the like from the eyes. Vincent of Beauvais mentions the same, besides many other medical uses of the reptile’s carcass, including a very unsavoury cosmetic. (_Matt._ p. 245; _Spec. Natur._ Lib. XVII. c. 106, 108.) [“According to Chinese notions, Han Yü, the St. Patrick of China, having persuaded the alligators in China that he was all-powerful, induced the stupid saurians to migrate to Ngo Hu or ‘Alligators’ Lake’ in the Kwang-tung province.” (_North-China Herald_, 5th July, 1895, p. 5.) Alligators have been found in 1878 at Wu-hu and at Chen-kiang (Ngan-hwei and Kiang-Su). (See _A. A. Fauvel, Alligators in China_, in _Jour. N. China B. R. A. S._ XIII. 1879, 1–36.)—H. C.] NOTE 4.—I think the _great_ horses must be an error, though running through all the texts, and that _grant quantité de chevaus_ was probably intended. Valuable _ponies_ are produced in those regions, but I have never heard of large horses, and Martini’s testimony is to like effect (p. 141). Nor can I hear of any race in those regions in modern times that uses what we should call long stirrups. It is true that the Tartars rode _very short_—“_brevissimas habent strepas_,” as Carpini says (643); and the Kirghiz Kazaks now do the same. Both Burmese and Shans ride what we should call short; and Major Sladen observes of the people on the western border of Yun-nan: “Kachyens and Shans ride on ordinary Chinese saddles. The stirrups are of the usual average length, but the saddles are so constructed as to rise at least a foot above the pony’s back.” He adds with reference to another point in the text: “I noticed a few Shan ponies _with docked tails_. But the more general practice is to loop up the tail in a knot, the object being to protect the rider, or rather his clothes, from the dirt with which they would otherwise be spattered from the flipping of the animal’s tail.” (_MS. Notes._) [After Yung-ch’ang, Captain Gill writes (II. p. 356): “The manes were hogged and the tails cropped of a great many of the ponies these men were riding; but there were none of the docked tails mentioned by Marco Polo.”—H. C.] Armour of boiled leather—“_armes cuiracés de cuir bouilli_”; so Pauthier’s text; the material so often mentioned in mediæval costume; _e.g._ in the leggings of Sir Thopas:— “His jambeux were of cuirbouly, His swerdës sheth of ivory, His helme of latoun bright.” But the reading of the G. Text which is “_cuir de bufal_,” is probably the right one. Some of the Miau-tzŭ of Kweichau are described as wearing armour of buffalo-leather overlaid with iron plates. (_Ritter_, IV. 768–776.) Arblasts or crossbows are still characteristic weapons of many of the wilder tribes of this region; _e.g._ of some of the Singphos, of the Mishmis of Upper Assam, of the Lu-tzŭ of the valley of the Lukiang, of tribes of the hills of Laos, of the Stiens of Cambodia, and of several of the Miau-tzŭ tribes of the interior of China. We give a cut copied from a Chinese work on the Miau-tzŭ of Kweichau in Dr. Lockhart’s possession, which shows _three_ little men of the Sang-Miau tribe of Kweichau combining to mend a crossbow, and a chief with _armes cuiracés_ and _jambeux_ also. [The cut (p. 83) is well explained by this passage of _Baber’s Travels_ among the Lolos (p. 71): “They make their own swords, three and a half to five spans long, with square heads, and have bows which it takes three men to draw, but no muskets.”—H. C.] NOTE 5.—I have nowhere met with a _precise_ parallel to this remarkable superstition, but the following piece of Folk-Lore has a considerable analogy to it. This extraordinary custom is ascribed by Ibn Fozlan to the Bulgarians of the Volga: “If they find a man endowed with special intelligence then they say: ‘This man should serve our Lord God;’ and so they take him, run a noose round his neck and hang him on a tree, where they leave him till the corpse falls to pieces.” This is precisely what Sir Charles Wood did with the Indian Corps of Engineers;—doubtless on the same principle. Archbishop Trench, in a fine figure, alludes to a belief prevalent among the Polynesian Islanders, “that the strength and valour of the warriors whom they have slain in battle passes into themselves, as their rightful inheritance.” (_Fraehn, Wolga-Bulgaren_, p. 50; _Studies in the Gospels_, p. 22; see also _Lubbock_, 457.) [Illustration: The Sangmiau Tribe of Kweichau, with the Crossbow. (From a Chinese Drawing.) “=Ont armes corasés de cuir de bufal, et ont lances et scuz et ont balestres.=”] There is some analogy also to the story Polo tells, in the curious Sindhi tradition, related by Burton, of Bahá-ul-haḳḳ, the famous saint of Multán. When he visited his disciples at Tatta they plotted his death, in order to secure the blessings of his perpetual presence. The people of Multán are said to have murdered two celebrated saints with the same view, and the Hazáras to “make a point of killing and burying in their own country any stranger indiscreet enough to commit a miracle or show any particular sign of sanctity.” The like practice is ascribed to the rude Moslem of Gilghit; and such allegations must have been current in Europe, for they are the motive of _Southey’s St. Romuald_: “‘But,’ quoth the Traveller, ‘wherefore did he leave A flock that knew his saintly worth so well?’ • • • • • “‘Why, Sir,’ the Host replied, ‘We thought perhaps that he might one day leave us; And then, should strangers have The good man’s grave, A loss like that would naturally grieve us; For he’ll be made a saint of, to be sure. Therefore we thought it prudent to secure His relics while we might; And so we meant to strangle him one night.’” (See _Sindh_, pp. 86, 388; _Ind. Antiq._ I. 13; _Southey’s Ballads_, etc., ed. Routledge, p. 330.) [Captain Gill (I. p. 323) says that he had made up his mind to visit a place called Li-fan Fu, near Ch’êng-tu. “I was told,” he writes, “that this place was inhabited by the Man-Tzŭ, or Barbarians, as the Chinese call them; and Monseigneur Pinchon told me that, amongst other pleasing theories, they were possessed of the belief that if they poisoned a rich man, his wealth would accrue to the poisoner; that, therefore, the hospitable custom prevailed amongst them of administering poison to rich or noble guests; that this poison took no effect for some time, but that in the course of two or three months it produced a disease akin to dysentery, ending in certain death.”—H. C.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] [Mr. E. H. Parker writes (_China Review_, XXIV. p. 106): “Polo’s Kogatin is _Hukoch’ih_, who was made King of Yun-nan in 1267, with military command over Ta-li, Shen-shen, Chagan Chang, Golden-Teeth, etc.”—H. C.] [2] Though the bellowing of certain American crocodiles is often spoken of, I have nowhere seen allusion to the roaring of the _ghaṛiyál_, nor does it seem to be commonly known. I have once only heard it, whilst on the bank of the Ganges near Rampúr Boliah, waiting for a ferry-boat. It was like a loud prolonged snore; and though it seemed to come distinctly from a crocodile on the surface of the river, I made sure by asking a boatman who stood by: “It is the ghaṛiyál speaking,” he answered. CHAPTER L. CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ZARDANDAN. When you have left Carajan and have travelled five days westward, you find a province called ZARDANDAN. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan. The capital city is called VOCHAN.{1} The people of this country all have their teeth gilt; or rather every man covers his teeth with a sort of golden case made to fit them, both the upper teeth and the under. The men do this, but not the women.{2} [The men also are wont to gird their arms and legs with bands or fillets pricked in black, and it is done thus; they take five needles joined together, and with these they prick the flesh till the blood comes, and then they rub in a certain black colouring stuff, and this is perfectly indelible. It is considered a piece of elegance and the sign of gentility to have this black band.] The men are all gentlemen in their fashion, and do nothing but go to the wars, or go hunting and hawking. The ladies do all the business, aided by the slaves who have been taken in war.{3} And when one of their wives has been delivered of a child, the infant is washed and swathed, and then the woman gets up and goes about her household affairs, whilst the husband takes to bed with the child by his side, and so keeps his bed for 40 days; and all the kith and kin come to visit him and keep up a great festivity. They do this because, say they, the woman has had a hard bout of it, and ’tis but fair the man should have his share of suffering.{4} They eat all kinds of meat, both raw and cooked, and they eat rice with their cooked meat as their fashion is. Their drink is wine made of rice and spices, and excellent it is. Their money is gold, and for small change they use pig-shells. And I can tell you they give one weight of gold for only five of silver; for there is no silver-mine within five months’ journey. And this induces merchants to go thither carrying a large supply of silver to change among that people. And as they have only five weights of silver to give for one of fine gold, they make immense profits by their exchange business in that country.{5} These people have neither idols nor churches, but worship the progenitor of their family, “for ’tis he,” say they, “from whom we have all sprung.”{6} They have no letters or writing; and ’tis no wonder, for the country is wild and hard of access, full of great woods and mountains which ’tis impossible to pass, the air in summer is so impure and bad; and any foreigners attempting it would die for certain.{7} When these people have any business transactions with one another, they take a piece of stick, round or square, and split it, each taking half. And on either half they cut two or three notches. And when the account is settled the debtor receives back the other half of the stick from the creditor.{8} And let me tell you that in all those three provinces that I have been speaking of, to wit Carajan, Vochan, and Yachi, there is never a leech. But when any one is ill they send for their magicians, that is to say the Devil-conjurors and those who are the keepers of the idols. When these are come the sick man tells what ails him, and then the conjurors incontinently begin playing on their instruments and singing and dancing; and the conjurors dance to such a pitch that at last one of them shall fall to the ground lifeless, like a dead man. And then the devil entereth into his body. And when his comrades see him in this plight they begin to put questions to him about the sick man’s ailment. And he will reply: “Such or such a spirit hath been meddling with the man,{9} for that he hath angered the spirit and done it some despite.” Then they say: “We pray thee to pardon him, and to take of his blood or of his goods what thou wilt in consideration of thus restoring him to health.” And when they have so prayed, the malignant spirit that is in the body of the prostrate man will (mayhap) answer: “The sick man hath also done great despite unto such another spirit, and that one is so ill-disposed that it will not pardon him on any account;”—this at least is the answer they get, an the patient be like to die. But if he is to get better the answer will be that they are to bring two sheep, or may be three; and to brew ten or twelve jars of drink, very costly and abundantly spiced.{10} Moreover it shall be announced that the sheep must be all black-faced, or of some other particular colour as it may hap; and then all those things are to be offered in sacrifice to such and such a spirit whose name is given.{11} And they are to bring so many conjurors, and so many ladies, and the business is to be done with a great singing of lauds, and with many lights, and store of good perfumes. That is the sort of answer they get if the patient is to get well. And then the kinsfolk of the sick man go and procure all that has been commanded, and do as has been bidden, and the conjuror who had uttered all that gets on his legs again. So they fetch the sheep of the colour prescribed, and slaughter them, and sprinkle the blood over such places as have been enjoined, in honour and propitiation of the spirit. And the conjurors come, and the ladies, in the number that was ordered, and when all are assembled and everything is ready, they begin to dance and play and sing in honour of the spirit. And they take flesh-broth and drink and lign-aloes, and a great number of lights, and go about hither and thither, scattering the broth and the drink and the meat also. And when they have done this for a while, again shall one of the conjurors fall flat and wallow there foaming at the mouth, and then the others will ask if he have yet pardoned the sick man? And sometimes he shall answer yea! and sometimes he shall answer no! And if the answer be _no_, they shall be told that something or other has to be done all over again, and then he will be pardoned; so this they do. And when all that the spirit has commanded has been done with great ceremony, then it shall be announced that the man is pardoned and shall be speedily cured. So when they at length receive such a reply, they announce that it is all made up with the spirit, and that he is propitiated, and they fall to eating and drinking with great joy and mirth, and he who had been lying lifeless on the ground gets up and takes his share. So when they have all eaten and drunken, every man departs home. And presently the sick man gets sound and well.{12} Now that I have told you of the customs and naughty ways of that people, we will have done talking of them and their province, and I will tell you about others, all in regular order and succession. NOTE 1.—[Baber writes (_Travels_, p. 171) when arriving to the Lan-tsang kiang (Mekong River): “We were now on the border-line between Carajan and Zardandan: ‘When you have travelled five days you find a province called Zardandan,’ says Messer Marco, precisely the actual number of stages from Tali-fu to the present boundary of Yung-ch’ang. That this river must have been the demarcation between the two provinces is obvious; one glance into that deep rift, the only exit from which is by painful worked artificial zigzags which, under the most favourable conditions, cannot be called safe, will satisfy the most sceptical geographer. The exact statement of distance is a proof that Marco entered the territory of Yung-ch’ang.” Captain Gill says (II. p. 343–344) that the five marches of Marco Polo “would be very long ones. Our journey was eight days, but it might easily have been done in seven, as the first march to Hsia-Kuan was not worthy of the name. The Grosvenor expedition made eleven marches with one day’s halt—twelve days altogether, and Mr. Margary was nine or ten days on the journey. It is true that, by camping out every night, the marches might be longer; and, as Polo refers to the crackling of the bamboos in the fires, it is highly probable that he found no ‘_fine hostelries_’ on this route. This is the way the traders still travel in Tibet; they march until they are tired, or until they find a nice grassy spot; they then off saddles, turn their animals loose, light a fire under some adjacent tree, and halt for the night; thus the longest possible distance can be performed every day, and the five days from Ta-li to Yung-Ch’ang would not be by any means an impossibility.”—H. C.] NOTE 2.—Ramusio says that both men and women use this gold case. There can be no better instance of the accuracy with which Polo is generally found to have represented Oriental names, when we recover his _real_ representation of them, than this name _Zardandan_. In the old Latin editions the name appeared as _Ardandan_, _Arcladam_, etc.; in Ramusio as _Cardandan_, correctly enough, only the first letter should have been printed Ç. Marsden, carrying out his systematic conversion of the Ramusian spelling, made this into _Kardandan_, and thus the name became irrecognizable. Klaproth, I believe, first showed that the word was simply the Persian ZĂR-DANDÁN, “Gold-Teeth,” and produced quotations from Rashiduddin mentioning the people in question by that identical name. Indeed that historian mentions them several times. Thus: “North-west of China is the frontier of Tibet, and of the ZARDANDAN, who lie between Tibet and Karájáng. These people cover their teeth with a gold case, which they take off when they eat.” They are also frequently mentioned in the Chinese annals about this period under the same name, viz. _Kin-Chi_, “Gold-Teeth,” and some years after Polo’s departure from the East they originated a revolt against the Mongol yoke, in which a great number of the imperial troops were massacred. (_De Mailla_, IX. 478–479.) [Baber writes (p. 159): “In Western Yünnan the betel-nut is chewed with prepared lime, colouring the teeth red, and causing a profuse expectoration. We first met with the practice near Tali-fu. “Is it not possible that the red colour imparted to the teeth by the practice of chewing betel with lime may go some way to account for the ancient name of this region, ‘Zar-dandan,’ ‘Chin-Ch’ih,’ or ‘Golden-Teeth’? Betel-chewing is, of course, common all over China; but the use of lime is almost unknown and the teeth are not necessarily discoloured. “In the neighbourhood of Tali, one comes suddenly upon a lime-chewing people, and is at once struck with the strange red hue of their teeth and gums. That some of the natives used formerly to cover their teeth with plates of gold (from which practice, mentioned by Marco Polo, and confirmed elsewhere, the name is generally derived) can scarcely be considered a myth; but the peculiarity remarked by ourselves would have been equally noticeable by the early Chinese invaders, and seems not altogether unworthy of consideration. It is interesting to find the name ‘Chin-Ch’ih’ still in use. “When Tu Wên-hsiu sent his ‘Panthay’ mission to England with tributary boxes of rock from the Tali Mountains, he described himself in his letter ‘as a humble native of the golden-teeth country.’”—H. C.] _Vochan_ seems undoubtedly to be, as Martini pointed out, the city called by the Chinese YUNG-CH’ANG-FU. Some of the old printed editions read _Unciam_, _i.e._ Uncham or Unchan, and it is probable that either this or _Võcian_, _i.e._ VONCHAN, was the true reading, coming very close to the proper name, which is WUNCHEN. (See _J. A. S. B._ VI. 547.) [In an itinerary from Ava to Peking, we read on the 10th September, 1833: “Slept at the city Wun-tsheng (Chinese Yongtchang fú and Burmese _Wun-zen_).” (_Chin. Rep._ IX. p. 474.)—Mr. F. W. K. Müller in a study on the Pa-yi language from a Chinese manuscript entitled _Hwa-i-yi-yü_ found by Dr. F. Hirth in China, and belonging now to the Berlin Royal Library, says the proper orthography of the word is _Wan-chang_ in Pa-yi. (_T’oung Pao_, III. p. 20.) This helps to find the origin of the name _Vochan_.—H. C.] This city has been a Chinese one for several centuries, and previous to the late Mahomedan revolt its population was almost exclusively Chinese, with only a small mixture of Shans. It is now noted for the remarkable beauty and fairness of the women. But it is mentioned by Chinese authors as having been in the Middle Ages the capital of the Gold-Teeth. These people, according to Martini, dwelt chiefly to the north of the city. They used to go to worship a huge stone, 100 feet high, at Nan-ngan, and cover it annually with gold-leaf. Some additional particulars about the Kin-Chi, in the time of the Mongols, will be found in Pauthier’s notes (p. 398). [In 1274, the Burmese attacked Yung ch’ang, whose inhabitants were known under the name of _Kin-Chi_ (Golden-Teeth). (_E. Rocher, Princes du Yun-nan_, p. 71.) From the Annals of Momein, translated by Mr. E. H. Parker (_China Review_, XX. p. 345), we learn that: “In the year 1271, the General of Ta-li was sent on a mission to procure the submission of the Burmese, and managed to bring a Burmese envoy named Kiai-poh back with him. Four years later Fu A-pih, Chief of the Golden-Teeth, was utilised as a guide, which so angered the Burmese that they detained Fu A-pih and attacked Golden-Teeth: but he managed to bribe himself free. A-ho, Governor of the Golden-Teeth, was now sent as a spy, which caused the Burmese to advance to the attack once more, but they were driven back by Twan Sin-cha-jih. These events led to the Burmese war,” which lasted till 1301. According to the _Hwang-tsing Chi-kung t’u_ (quoted by Devéria, _Front._ p. 130), the _Pei-jen_ were _Kin-chi_, of Pa-y race, and were surnamed Min-kia-tzŭ; the Min-kia, according to F. Garnier, say that they come from Nan-king, but this is certainly an error for the Pei-jen. From another Chinese work, Devéria (p. 169) gives this information: The Piao are the Kin-Chi; they submitted to the Mongols in the 13th century; they are descended from the people of Chu-po or Piao Kwo (Kingdom of Piao), ancient Pegu; P’u-p’iao, in a little valley between the Mekong and the Salwen Rivers, was the place through which the P’u and the Piao entered China. The Chinese geographical work _Fang-yu-ki-yao_ mentions the name of Kin-Chi Ch’eng, or city of Kin-Chi, as the ancient denomination of Yung-ch’ang. A Chinese Pa-y vocabulary, belonging to Professor Devéria, translates Kin-Chi by Wan-Chang (Yung-ch’ang). (_Devéria, Front._ p. 128.)—H. C.] It has not been determined who are the representatives of these Gold-Teeth, who were evidently distinct from the Shans, not Buddhist, and without literature. I should think it probable that they were _Kakhyens_ or _Singphos_, who, excluding Shans, appear to form the greatest body in that quarter, and are closely akin to each other, indeed essentially identical in race.[1] The Singphos have now extended widely to the west of the Upper Irawadi and northward into Assam, but their traditions bring them from the borders of Yunnan. The original and still most populous seat of the Kakhyen or Singpho race is pointed out by Colonel Hannay in the Gulansigung Mountains and the valley of the eastern source of the Irawadi. This agrees with Martini’s indication of the seat of the Kin-Chi as north of Yung-ch’ang. One of Hannay’s notices of Singpho customs should also be compared with the interpolation from Ramusio about tattooing: “The men tattoo their limbs slightly, and all married females are tattooed on both legs from the ankle to the knee, in broad horizontal circular bands. Both sexes also wear rings below the knee of fine shreds of rattan varnished black” (p. 18). These rings appear on the Kakhyen woman in our cut. [Illustration: Kakhyens. (From a Photograph.)] The only other wild tribe spoken of by Major Sladen as attending the markets on the frontier is that of the _Lissus_, already mentioned by Lieutenant Garnier (_supra_, ch. xlvii. note 6), and who are said to be the most savage and indomitable of the tribes in that quarter. Garnier also mentions the Mossos, who are alleged once to have formed an independent kingdom about Li-kiang fu. Possibly, however, the Gold-Teeth may have become entirely absorbed in the Chinese and Shan population. The characteristic of casing the teeth in gold should identify the tribe did it still exist. But I can learn nothing of the continued existence of such a custom among any tribe of the Indo-Chinese continent. The insertion of gold studs or spots, which Bürck confounds with it, is common enough among Indo-Chinese races, but that is quite a different thing. The actual practice of the Zardandan is, however, followed by some of the people of Sumatra, as both Marsden and Raffles testify: “The great men sometimes set their teeth in gold, by casing with a plate of that metal the under row ... it is sometimes indented to the shape of the teeth, but more usually quite plain. They do not remove it either to eat or sleep.” The like custom is mentioned by old travellers at Macassar, and with the substitution of _silver_ for gold by a modern traveller as existing in Timor; but in both, probably, it was a practice of Malay tribes, as in Sumatra. (_Marsden’s Sumatra_, 3rd ed., p. 52; _Raffles’s Java_, I. 105; _Bickmore’s Ind. Archipelago_.) [In his second volume of _The River of Golden Sand_, Captain Gill has two chapters (viii. and ix.) with the title: _In the footsteps of Marco Polo and of Augustus Margary_ devoted to _The Land of the Gold-Teeth_ and _The Marches of the Kingdom of Mien_.—H. C.] NOTE 3.—This is precisely the account which Lieutenant Garnier gives of the people of Laos: “The Laos people are very indolent, and when they are not rich enough to possess slaves they make over to their women the greatest part of the business of the day; and ’tis these latter who not only do all the work of the house, but who husk the rice, work in the fields, and paddle the canoes. Hunting and fishing are almost the only occupations which pertain exclusively to the stronger sex.” (_Notice sur le Voyage d’Exploration_, etc., p. 34.) NOTE 4.—This highly eccentric practice has been ably illustrated and explained by Mr. Tylor, under the name of the _Couvade_, or “Hatching,” by which it is known in some of the Béarn districts of the Pyrenees, where it formerly existed, as it does still or did recently, in some Basque districts of Spain. [In a paper on _La Couvade chez les Basques_, published in the _République Française_, of 19th January, 1877, and reprinted in _Études de Linguistique et d’Ethnographie par A. Hovelacque et Julien Vinson_, Paris, 1878, Prof. Vinson quotes the following curious passage from the poem in ten cantos, _Luciniade_, by Sacombe, of Carcassonne (Paris and Nîmes, 1790): “En Amérique, en Corse, et chez l’Ibérien, En France même encor chez le Vénarnien, Au pays Navarrois, lorsqu’une femme accouche, L’épouse sort du lit et le mari se couche; Et, quoiqu’il soit très sain et d’esprit et de corps, Contre un mal qu’il n’a point l’art unit ses efforts. On le met au régime, et notre faux malade, Soigné par l’accouchée, en son lit fait _couvade_: On ferme avec grand soin portes, volets, rideaux; Immobile, on l’oblige à rester sur le dos, Pour étouffer son lait, qui gêné dans sa course, Pourrait en l’étouffant remonter vers sa source. Un mari, dans sa couche, au médecin soumis, Reçoit, en cet état, parents, voisins, amis, Qui viennent l’exhorter à prendre patience Et font des vœux au ciel pour sa convalescence.” Professor Vinson, who is an authority on the subject, comes to the conclusion that it is not possible to ascribe to the Basques the custom of the _couvade_. Mr. Tylor writes to me that he “did not quite begin the use of this good French word in the sense of the ‘man-child-bed’ as they call it in Germany. It occurs in Rochefort, _Iles Antilles_, and though Dr. Murray, of the English Dictionary, maintains that it is spurious, if so, it is better than any genuine word I know of.”—H. C.] “In certain valleys of Biscay,” says Francisque-Michel, “in which the popular usages carry us back to the infancy of society, the woman immediately after her delivery gets up and attends to the cares of the household, whilst the husband takes to bed with the tender fledgeling in his arms, and so receives the compliments of his neighbours.” The nearest people to the Zardandan of whom I find this custom elsewhere recorded, is one called _Langszi_,[2] a small tribe of aborigines in the department of Wei-ning, in Kweichau, but close to the border of Yun-nan: “Their manners and customs are very extraordinary. For example, when the wife has given birth to a child, the husband remains in the house and holds it in his arms for a whole month, not once going out of doors. The wife in the mean time does all the work in doors and out, and provides and serves up both food and drink for the husband, she only giving suck to the child.” I am informed also that, among the Miris on the Upper Assam border, the husband on such occasions confines himself strictly to the house for forty days after the event. The custom of the Couvade has especially and widely prevailed in South America, not only among the Carib races of Guiana, of the Spanish Main, and (where still surviving) of the West Indies, but among many tribes of Brazil and its borders from the Amazons to the Plate, and among the Abipones of Paraguay; it also exists or has existed among the aborigines of California, in West Africa, in Bouro, one of the Moluccas, and among a wandering tribe of the Telugu-speaking districts of Southern India. According to Diodorus it prevailed in ancient Corsica, according to Strabo among the Iberians of Northern Spain (where we have seen it has lingered to recent times), according to Apollonius Rhodius among the Tibareni of Pontus. Modified traces of a like practice, not carried to the same extent of oddity, are also found in a variety of countries besides those that have been named, as in Borneo, in Kamtchatka, and in Greenland. In nearly all cases some particular diet, or abstinence from certain kinds of food and drink, and from exertion, is prescribed to the father; in some, more positive and trying penances are inflicted. Butler had no doubt our Traveller’s story in his head when he made the widow in _Hudibras_ allude in a ribald speech to the supposed fact that ————“Chineses go to bed And lie in, in their ladies’ stead.” The custom is humorously introduced, as Pauthier has noticed, in the Mediæval Fabliau of _Aucassin and Nicolete_. Aucassin arriving at the castle of Torelore asks for the king and is told he is in child-bed. Where then is his wife? She is gone to the wars and has taken all the people with her. Aucassin, greatly astonished, enters the palace, and wanders through it till he comes to the chamber where the king lay:— “En le canbre entre Aucassins Li cortois et li gentis; Il est venus dusqu’au lit Alec ú li Rois se gist. Pardevant lui s’arestit Si parla, Oès que dist; Diva fau, que fais-tu ci? Dist le Rois, Je gis d’un fil, Quant mes mois sera complis, Et ge serai bien garis, Dont irai le messe oïr Si comme mes ancessor fist,” etc. Aucassin pulls all the clothes off him, and cudgels him soundly, making him promise that never a man shall lie in again in his country. This strange custom, if it were unique, would look like a coarse practical joke, but appearing as it does among so many different races and in every quarter of the world, it must have its root somewhere deep in the psychology of the uncivilised man. I must refer to Mr. Tylor’s interesting remarks on the rationale of the custom, for they do not bear abridgment. Professor Max Müller humorously suggests that “the treatment which a husband receives among ourselves at the time of his wife’s confinement, not only from mothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and other female relations, but from nurses, and from every consequential maid-servant in the house,” is but a “survival,” as Mr. Tylor would call it, of the _couvade_; or at least represents the same feeling which among those many uncivilised nations thus drove the husband to his bed, and sometimes (as among the Caribs) put him when there to systematic torture. (_Tylor_, _Researches_, 288–296; _Michel, Le Pays Basque_, p. 201; _Sketches of the Meau-tsze_, transl. by _Bridgman_ in _J. of North China Br. of R. As. Soc._, p. 277; _Hudibras_, Pt. III., canto I. 707; _Fabliaus et Contes par Barbazan, éd. Méon_, I. 408–409; _Indian Antiq._ III. 151; _Müller’s Chips_, II. 227 _seqq._; many other references in TYLOR, and in a capital monograph by Dr. H. H. Ploss of Leipzig, received during revision of this sheet: ‘_Das Männerkindbett_.’ What a notable example of the German power of compounding is that title!) [This custom seems to be considered generally as a survival of the matriarchate in a society with a patriarchal régime. We may add to the list of authorities on this subject: _E. Westermarck, Hist. of Human Marriage_, 106, _seqq._; _G. A. Wilken, De Couvade bij de Volken v.d. Indischen Archipel, Bijdr. Ind. Inst._, 5th ser., iv. p. 250. Dr. Ernest Martin, late physician of the French Legation at Peking, in an article on _La Couvade en Chine_ (_Revue Scientifique_, 24th March, 1894), gave a drawing representing the couvade from a sketch by a native artist. In the _China Review_ (XI. pp. 401–402), “Lao Kwang-tung” notes these interesting facts: “The Chinese believe that certain actions performed by the husband during the pregnancy of his wife will affect the child. If a dish of food on the table is raised by putting another dish, or anything else below it, it is not considered proper for a husband, who is expecting the birth of a child, to partake of it, for fear the two dishes should cause the child to have two tongues. It is extraordinary that the caution thus exercised by the Chinese has not prevented many of them from being double-tongued. This result, it is supposed, however, will only happen if the food so raised is eaten in the house in which the future mother happens to be. It is thought that the pasting up of the red papers containing antithetical and felicitous sentences on them, as at New Year’s time, by a man under similar circumstances, and this whether the future mother sees the action performed or not, will cause the child to have red marks on the face or any part of the body. The causes producing _naevi materni_ have probably been the origin of such marks, rather than the idea entertained by the Chinese that the father, having performed an action by some occult mode, influences the child yet unborn. A case is said to have occurred in which ill effects were obviated, or rather obliterated, by the red papers being torn down, after the birth of the infant, and soaked in water, when as the red disappeared from the paper, so the child’s face assumed a natural hue. Lord Avebury also speaks of _la couvade_ as existing among the Chinese of West Yun-Nan. (_Origin of Civilisation and Primitive Condition of Man_, p. 18).” Dr. J. A. H. Murray, editor of the _New English Dictionary_, wrote, in _The Academy_, of 29th October, 1892, a letter with the heading of _Couvade, The Genesis of an Anthropological Term_, which elicited an answer from Dr. E. B. Tylor (_Academy_, 5th November): “Wanting a general term for such customs,” writes Dr. Tylor, “and finding statements in books that this male lying-in lasted on till modern times, in the south of France, and was there called _couvade_, that is brooding or hatching (_couver_), I adopted this word for the set of customs, and it has since become established in English.” The discussion was carried on in _The Academy_, 12th and 19th November, 10th and 17th December; Mr. A. L. Mayhew wrote (12th November): “There is no doubt whatever that Dr. Tylor and Professor Max Müller (in a review of Dr. Tylor’s book) share the glory of having given a new technical sense to an old provincial French word, and of seeing it accepted in France, and safely enshrined in the great Dictionary of Littré.” Now as to the origin of the word; we have seen above that Rochefort was the first to use the expression _faire la couvade_. This author, or at least the author (see _Barbier, Ouvrages anonymes_) of the _Histoire naturelle ... des Iles Antilles_, which was published for the first time at Rotterdam, in 1658, 4to., writes: “C’est qu’au méme tems que la femme est delivrée le mary se met au lit, pour s’y plaindre et y faire l’acouchée: coutume, qui bien que Sauvage et ridicule, se trouve neantmoins à ce que l’on dit, parmy les paysans d’vne certaine Province de France. Et ils appellent cela _faire la couvade_. Mais ce qui est de fâcheus pour le pauvre Caraïbe, qui s’est mis au lit au lieu de l’acouchée, c’est qu’on luy fait faire diéte dix ou douze jours de suite, ne luy donnant rien par jour qu’vn petit morceau de Cassave, et vn peu d’eau dans la quelle on a aussi fait boüillir un peu de ce pain de racine.... Mais ils ne font ce grand jeusne qu’à la naissance de leur premier enfant....” (II. pp. 607–608). Lafitau (_Mœurs des Sauvages Ameriquains_, I. pp. 49–50) says on the authority of Rochefort: “Je la trouve chez les Ibériens ou les premiers Peuples d’Espagne ... elle est aujourd’hui dans quelques unes de nos Provinces d’Espagne.” The word _couvade_, forgotten in the sense of lying-in-bed, recalled by Sacombe, has been renovated in a happy manner by Dr. Tylor. As to the custom itself, there can be no doubt of its existence, in spite of some denials. Dr. Tylor, in the third edition of his valuable _Early History of Mankind_, published in 1878 (Murray), since the last edition of _The Book of Ser Marco Polo_, has added (pp. 291 _seqq._) many more proofs to support what he had already said on the subject. There may be some strong doubts as to the _couvade_ in the south of France, and the authors who speak of it in Béarn and the Basque Countries seem to have copied one another, but there is not the slightest doubt of its having been and of its being actually practised in South America. There is a very curious account of it in the _Voyage dans le Nord du Brésil_ made by Father Yves d’Evreux in 1613 and 1614 (see pp. 88–89 of the reprint, Paris, 1864, and the note of the learned Ferdinand Denis, pp. 411–412). Compare with _Durch Central-Brasilien ... im Jahre_ 1884 _von K.v. den Steinen_. But the following extract from _Among the Indians of Guiana_.... _By Everard im Thurn_ (1883), will settle, I think, the question: “Turning from the story of the day to the story of the life, we may begin at the beginning, that is, at the birth of the children. And here, at once, we meet with, perhaps, the most curious point in the habits of the Indians; the _couvade_ or male child-bed. This custom, which is common to the uncivilized people of many parts of the world, is probably among the strangest ever invented by the human brain. Even before the child is born, the father abstains for a time from certain kinds of animal food. The woman works as usual up to a few hours before the birth of the child. At last she retires alone, or accompanied only by some other women, to the forest, where she ties up her hammock; and then the child is born. Then in a few hours—often less than a day—the woman, who, like all women living in a very unartificial condition, suffers but little, gets up and resumes her ordinary work. According to Schomburgk, the mother, at any rate among the Macusis, remains in her hammock for some time, and the father hangs his hammock, and lies in it, by her side; but in all cases where the matter came under my notice, the mother left her hammock almost at once. In any case, no sooner is the child born than the father takes to his hammock and, abstaining from every sort of work, from meat and all other food, except weak gruel of cassava meal, from smoking, from washing himself, and, above all, from touching weapons of any sort, is nursed and cared for by all the women of the place. One other regulation, mentioned by Schomburgk, is certainly quaint; the interesting father may not scratch himself with his finger-nails, but he may use for this purpose a splinter, specially provided, from the mid-rib of a cokerite palm. This continues for many days, and sometimes even weeks. _Couvade_ is such a wide-spread institution, that I had often read and wondered at it; but it was not until I saw it practised around me, and found that I was often suddenly deprived of the services of my best hunters or boat-hands, by the necessity which they felt, and which nothing could persuade them to disregard, of observing _couvade_, that I realized its full strangeness. No satisfactory explanation of its origin seems attainable. It appears based on a belief in the existence of a mysterious connection between the child and its father—far closer than that which exists between the child and its mother,—and of such a nature that if the father infringes any of the rules of the _couvade_, for a time after the birth of the child, the latter suffers. For instance, if he eats the flesh of a water-haas (_Capybara_), a large rodent with very protruding teeth, the teeth of the child will grow as those of the animal; or if he eats the flesh of the spotted-skinned labba, the child’s skin will become spotted. Apparently there is also some idea that for the father to eat strong food, to wash, to smoke, or to handle weapons, would have the same result as if the new-born babe ate such food, washed, smoked, or played with edged tools” (pp. 217–219.) I have to thank Dr. Edward B. Tylor for the valuable notes he kindly sent me.—H. C.] NOTE 5.—“The abundance of gold in Yun-nan is proverbial in China, so that if a man lives very extravagantly they ask if his father is governor of Yun-nan.” (_Martini_, p. 140.) Polo has told us that in Eastern Yun-nan the exchange was 8 of silver for one of gold (ch. xlviii.); in the Western division of the province 6 of silver for one of gold (ch. xlix.); and now, still nearer the borders of Ava, only 5 of silver for one of gold. Such discrepancies within 15 days’ journey would be inconceivable, but that in both the latter instances at least he appears to speak of the rates at which the gold was purchased from secluded, ignorant, and uncivilised tribes. It is difficult to reconcile with other facts the reason which he assigns for the high value put on silver at Vochan, viz., that there was no silver-mine within five months’ journey. In later days, at least, Martini speaks of many silver-mines in Yun-nan, and the “Great Silver Mine” (_Bau-dwen gyi_ of the Burmese) or group of mines, which affords a chief supply to Burma in modern times, is not far from the territory of our Traveller’s Zardandan. Garnier’s map shows several argentiferous sites in the Valley of the Lan-t’sang. In another work[3] I have remarked at some length on the relative values of gold and silver about this time. In Western Europe these seem to have been as 12 to 1, and I have shown grounds for believing that in India, and generally over civilised Asia, the ratio was 10 to 1. In Pauthier’s extracts from the _Yuen-shi_ or Annals of the Mongol Dynasty, there is an incidental but precise confirmation of this, of which I was not then aware. This states (p. 321) that on the issue of the paper currency of 1287 the official instructions to the local treasuries were to issue notes of the nominal value of two strings, _i.e._ 2000 _wen_ or cash, for every ounce of flowered silver, and 20,000 cash for every ounce of gold. Ten to 1 must have continued to be the relation in China down to about the end of the 17th century if we may believe Lecomte; but when Milburne states the same value in the beginning of the 19th he must have fallen into some great error. In 1781 Sonnerat tells us that _formerly_ gold had been exported from China with a profit of 25 per cent., but at that time a profit of 18 to 20 per cent. was made by _importing_ it. At present[4] the relative values are about the same as in Europe, viz. 1 to 15½ or 1 to 16; but in Canton, in 1844, they were 1 to 17; and Timkowski states that at Peking in 1821 the finest gold was valued at 18 to 1. And as regards the precise territory of which this chapter speaks I find in Lieutenant Bower’s Commercial Report on Sladen’s Mission that the price of pure gold at Momein in 1868 was 13 times its weight in silver (p. 122); whilst M. Garnier mentions that the exchange at Ta-li in 1869 was 12 to 1 (I. 522). Does not Shakspeare indicate at least a memory of 10 to 1 as the traditional relation of gold to silver when he makes the Prince of Morocco, balancing over Portia’s caskets, argue:— “Or shall I think in silver she’s immured, Being ten times undervalued to tried gold? O sinful thought!” In Japan, at the time trade was opened, we know from Sir R. Alcock’s work the extraordinary fact that the proportionate value set upon gold and silver currency by authority was as 3 to 1. (_Cathay_, etc., p. ccl. and p. 442; _Lecomte_, II. 91; _Milburne’s Oriental Commerce_, II. 510; _Sonnerat_, II. 17; _Hedde, Etude, Pratique_, etc., p. 14; _Williams, Chinese Commercial Guide_, p. 129; _Timkowski_, II. 202; _Alcock_, I. 281; II. 411, etc.) NOTE 6.—Mr. Lay cites from a Chinese authority a notice of a tribe of “Western Miautsze,” who “in the middle of autumn sacrifice to the Great Ancestor or Founder of their Race.” (_The Chinese as they are_, p. 321.) NOTE 7.—Dr. Anderson confirms the depressing and unhealthy character of the summer climate at Momein, though standing between 5000 and 6000 feet above the sea (p. 41). NOTE 8.—“Whereas before,” says Jack Cade to Lord Say, “our forefathers had no books but score and tally, thou hast caused printing to be used.” The use of such tallies for the record of contracts among the aboriginal tribes of Kweichau is mentioned by Chinese authorities, and the French missionaries of Bonga speak of the same as in use among the simple tribes in that vicinity. But, as Marsden notes, the use of such rude records was to be found in his day in higher places and much nearer home. They continued to be employed as records of receipts in the British Exchequer till 1834, “and it is worthy of recollection that the fire by which the Houses of Parliament were destroyed was supposed to have originated in the over-heating of the flues in which the discarded tallies were being burnt.” I remember often, when a child, to have seen the tallies of the colliers in Scotland, and possibly among that class they may survive. They appear to be still used by bakers in various parts of England and France, in the Canterbury hop-gardens, and locally in some other trades. (_Martini_, 135; _Bridgman_, 259, 262; _Eng. Cyclop._ sub v. _Tally_; _Notes and Queries_, 1st ser. X. 485.) [According to Father Crabouillet (_Missions Cath._ 1873, p. 105), the Lolos use tallies for their contracts; Dr. Harmand mentions (_Tour du Monde_, 1877, No. VII.) the same fact among the Khas of Central Laos; and M. Pierre Lefèvre-Pontalis (_Populations du nord de l’Indo-Chine_, 1892, p. 22, from the _J. As._) says he saw these tallies among the Khas of Luang-Prabang.—H. C.] “In Illustration of this custom I have to relate what follows. In the year 1863 the Tsaubwa (or Prince) of a Shan Province adjoining Yun-nan was in rebellion against the Burmese Government. He wished to enter into communication with the British Government. He sent a messenger to a British Officer with a letter tendering his allegiance, and accompanying this letter was a piece of bamboo about five inches long. This had been split down the middle, so that the two pieces fitted closely together, forming a tube in the original shape of the bamboo. A notch at one end included the edges of both pieces, showing that they were a pair. The messenger said that if the reply were favourable one of the pieces was to be returned and the other kept. I need hardly say the messenger received no written reply, and both pieces of bamboo were retained.” (_MS. Note by Sir Arthur Phayre._) NOTE 9.—Compare Mr. Hodgson’s account of the sub-Himalayan Bodos and Dhimals: “All diseases are ascribed to supernatural agency. The sick man is supposed to be possessed by one of the deities, who racks him with pain as a punishment for impiety or neglect of the god in question. Hence not the mediciner, but the exorcist, is summoned to the sick man’s aid.” (_J. A. S. B._ XVIII. 728.) NOTE 10.—Mr. Hodgson again: “Libations of fermented liquor always accompany sacrifice—_because_, to confess the whole truth, sacrifice and feast are commutable words, and feasts need to be crowned with copious potations.” (_Ibid._) NOTE 11.—And again: “The god in question is asked what sacrifice he requires? a buffalo, a hog, a fowl, or a duck, to spare the sufferer; ... anxious as I am fully to illustrate the topic, I will not try the patience of my readers by describing all that vast variety of black victims and white, of red victims and blue, which each particular deity is alleged to prefer.” (_Ibid._ and p. 732.) NOTE 12.—The same system of devil-dancing is prevalent among the tribes on the Lu-kiang, as described by the R. C. Missionaries. The conjurors are there called _Mumos_. (_Ann. de la Prop. de la Foi_, XXXVI. 323, and XXXVII. 312–313.) “Marco’s account of the exorcism of evil spirits in cases of obstinate illness exactly resembles what is done in similar cases by the Burmese, except that I never saw animals sacrificed on such occasions.” (_Sir A. Phayre._) Mouhot says of the wild people of Cambodia called _Stiens_: “When any one is ill they say that the Evil Spirit torments him; and to deliver him they set up about the patient a dreadful din which does not cease night or day, until some one among the bystanders falls down as if in a syncope, crying out, ‘I have him,—he is in me,—he is strangling me!’ Then they question the person who has thus become possessed. They ask him what remedies will save the patient; what remedies does the Evil Spirit require that he may give up his prey? Sometimes it is an ox or a pig; but too often it is a human victim.” (_J. R. G. S._ XXXII. 147.) See also the account of the Samoyede _Tadibeï_ or Devil-dancer in Klaproth’s _Magasin Asiatique_ (II. 83). In fact these strange rites of Shamanism, devil-dancing, or what not, are found with wonderful identity of character among the non-Caucasian races over parts of the earth most remote from one another, not only among the vast variety of Indo-Chinese Tribes, but among the Tamulian tribes of India, the Veddahs of Ceylon, the races of Siberia, and the red nations of North and South America. Hinduism has assimilated these “prior superstitions of the sons of Tur” as Mr. Hodgson calls them, in the form of Tantrika mysteries, whilst, in the wild performance of the Dancing Dervishes at Constantinople, we see perhaps again the infection of Turanian blood breaking out from the very heart of Mussulman orthodoxy. Dr. Caldwell has given a striking account of the practice of devil-dancing among the Shanars of Tinnevelly, which forms a perfect parallel in modern language to our Traveller’s description of a scene of which he also had manifestly been an eye-witness: “When the preparations are completed and the devil-dance is about to commence, the music is at first comparatively slow; the dancer seems impassive and sullen, and he either stands still or moves about in gloomy silence. Gradually, as the music becomes quicker and louder, his excitement begins to rise. Sometimes, to help him to work himself up into a frenzy, he uses medicated draughts, cuts and lacerates himself till the blood flows, lashes himself with a huge whip, presses a burning torch to his breast, drinks the blood which flows from his own wounds, or drains the blood of the sacrifice, putting the throat of the decapitated goat to his mouth. Then, as if he had acquired new life, he begins to brandish his staff of bells, and to dance with a quick but wild unsteady step. Suddenly the afflatus descends; there is no mistaking that glare, or those frantic leaps. He snorts, he stares, he gyrates. The demon has now taken bodily possession of him, and though he retains the power of utterance and motion, both are under the demon’s control, and his separate consciousness is in abeyance. The bystanders signalise the event by raising a long shout, attended with a peculiar vibratory noise, caused by the motion of the hand and tongue, or the tongue alone. The devil-dancer is now worshipped as a present deity, and every bystander consults him respecting his diseases, his wants, the welfare of his absent relatives, the offerings to be made for the accomplishment of his wishes, and in short everything for which superhuman knowledge is supposed to be available.” (_Hodgson, J. R. As. Soc._ XVIII. 397; _The Tinnevelly Shanars_, by the _Rev. R. Caldwell, B.A._, Madras, 1849, pp. 19–20.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] “_Singpho_,” says Colonel Hannay, “signifies in the Kakhyen language ‘a man,’ and all of this race who have settled in Hookong or Assam are thus designated; the reason of their change of name I could not ascertain, but so much importance seems to be attached to it, that the Singphos, in talking of their eastern and southern neighbours, call them Kakhyens or Kakoos, and consider it an insult to be called so themselves.” (_Sketch of the Singphos, or the Kakhyens of Burma_, Calcutta, 1847, pp. 3–4.) If, however, the Kakhyens, or _Kachyens_ (as Major Sladen calls them), are represented by the _Go-tchang_ of Pauthier’s Chinese extracts, these seem to be distinguished from the Kin-Chi, though associated with them. (See pp. 397, 411.) [2] [Mr. E. H. Parker (_China Review_, XIV. p. 359) says that Colonel Yule’s _Langszi_ are evidently the _Szilang_, one of the six _Chao_, but turned upside down.—H. C.] [3] _Cathay_, etc., pp. ccl. _seqq._ and p. 441. [4] Written in 1870. CHAPTER LI. WHEREIN IS RELATED HOW THE KING OF MIEN AND BANGALA VOWED VENGEANCE AGAINST THE GREAT KAAN. But I was forgetting to tell you of a famous battle that was fought in the kingdom of Vochan in the Province of Zardandan, and that ought not to be omitted from our Book. So we will relate all the particulars. You see, in the year of Christ, 1272,{1} the Great Kaan sent a large force into the kingdoms of Carajan and Vochan, to protect them from the ravages of ill-disposed people; and this was before he had sent any of his sons to rule the country, as he did afterwards when he made Sentemur king there, the son of a son of his who was deceased. Now there was a certain king, called the king of MIEN and of BANGALA, who was a very puissant prince, with much territory and treasure and people; and he was not as yet subject to the Great Kaan, though it was not long after that the latter conquered him and took from him both the kingdoms that I have named.{2} And it came to pass that when this king of Mien and Bangala heard that the host of the Great Kaan was at Vochan, he said to himself that it behoved him to go against them with so great a force as should insure his cutting off the whole of them, insomuch that the Great Kaan would be very sorry ever to send an army again thither [to his frontier]. So this king prepared a great force and munitions of war; and he had, let me tell you, 2000 great elephants, on each of which was set a tower of timber, well framed and strong, and carrying from twelve to sixteen well-armed fighting men.{3} And besides these, he had of horsemen and of footmen good 60,000 men. In short, he equipped a fine force, as well befitted such a puissant prince. It was indeed a host capable of doing great things. And what shall I tell you? When the king had completed these great preparations to fight the Tartars, he tarried not, but straightway marched against them. And after advancing without meeting with anything worth mentioning, they arrived within three days of the Great Kaan’s host, which was then at Vochan in the territory of Zardandan, of which I have already spoken. So there the king pitched his camp, and halted to refresh his army. NOTE 1.—This date is no doubt corrupt. (See note 3, ch. lii.) NOTE 2.—MIEN is the name by which the kingdom of Burma or Ava was and is known to the Chinese. M. Garnier informs me that _Mien-Kwé_ or _Mien-tisong_ is the name always given in Yun-nan to that kingdom, whilst the Shans at Kiang Hung call the Burmese _Man_ (pronounced like the English word). The title given to the sovereign in question of King of BENGAL, as well as of Mien, is very remarkable. We shall see reason hereafter to conceive that Polo did more or less confound Bengal with _Pegu_, which was subject to the Burmese monarchy up to the time of the Mongol invasion. But apart from any such misapprehension, there is not only evidence of rather close relations between Burma and Gangetic India in the ages immediately preceding that of our author, but also some ground for believing that he may be right in his representation, and that the King of Burma may have at this time arrogated the title of “King of Bengal,” which is attributed to him in the text. Anaurahta, one of the most powerful kings in Burmese history (1017–1059), extended his conquests to the frontiers of India, and is stated to have set up images within that country. He also married an Indian princess, the daughter of the King of _Wethali_ (_i.e._ _Vaiçali_ in Tirhút). There is also in the _Burmese Chronicle_ a somewhat confused story regarding a succeeding king, Kyan-tsittha (A.D. 1064), who desired to marry his daughter to the son of the King of _Patteik-Kará_, a part of Bengal.[1] The marriage was objected to by the Burmese nobles, but the princess was already with child by the Bengal prince; and their son eventually succeeded to the Burmese throne under the name of Alaungtsi-thu. When king, he travelled all over his dominions, and visited the images which Anaurahta had set up in India. He also maintained intercourse with the King of Patteik-Kará and married his daughter. Alaungtsi-thu is stated to have lived to the age of 101 years, and to have reigned 75. Even then his death was hastened by his son Narathu, who smothered him in the temple called Shwé-Ku (“Golden Cave”), at Pagán, and also put to death his Bengali step-mother. The father of the latter sent eight brave men, disguised as Brahmans, to avenge his daughter’s death. Having got access to the royal presence through their sacred character, they slew King Narathu and then themselves. Hence King Narathu is known in the Burmese history as the _Kalá-Ḳya Meng_, or “King slain by the Hindus.” He was building the great Temple at Pagán called _Dhammayangyi_, at the time of his death, which occurred about the year 1171. The great-grandson of this king was Narathihapade (presumably _Narasinha-pati_), the king reigning at the time of the Mongol invasion. All these circumstances show tolerably close relations between Burma and Bengal, and also _that the dynasty then reigning in Burma was descended from a Bengal stock_. Sir Arthur Phayre, after noting these points, remarks: “From all these circumstances, and from the conquests attributed to Anaurahta, it is very probable that, after the conquest of Bengal by the Mahomedans in the 13th century, the kings of Burma would assume the title of _Kings of Bengal_. This is nowhere expressly stated in the Burmese history, but the course of events renders it very probable. We know that the claim to Bengal was asserted by the kings of Burma in long after years. In the Journal of the Marquis of Hastings, under the date of 6th September, 1818, is the following passage: ‘The king of Burma favoured us early this year with the obliging requisition that we should cede to him Moorshedabad and the provinces to the east of it, which he deigned to say were all natural dependencies of his throne.’ And at the time of the disputes on the frontier of Arakan, in 1823–1824, which led to the war of the two following years, the Governor of Arakan made a similar demand. We may therefore reasonably conclude that at the close of the 13th century of the Christian era the kings of Pagán called themselves kings of Burma and of Bengala.” (_MS. Note by Sir Arthur Phayre_; see also his paper in _J. A. S. B._ vol. XXXVII. part I.) NOTE 3.—It is very difficult to know what to make of the repeated assertions of old writers as to the numbers of men carried by war-elephants, or, if we could admit those numbers, to conceive how the animal could have carried the enormous structure necessary to give them space to use their weapons. The Third Book of Maccabees is the most astounding in this way, alleging that a single elephant carried 32 stout men, besides the Indian _Mahaut_. Bochart indeed supposes the number here to be a clerical error for 12, but this would even be extravagant. Friar Jordanus is, no doubt, building on the Maccabees rather than on his own Oriental experience when he says that the elephant “carrieth easily more than 30 men.” Philostratus, in his _Life of Apollonius_, speaks of 10 to 15; Ibn Batuta of about 20; and a great elephant sent by Timur to the Sultan of Egypt is said to have carried 20 drummers. Christopher Borri says that in Cochin China the elephant did ordinarily carry 13 or 14 persons, 6 on each side in two tiers of 3 each, and 2 behind. On the other hand, among the ancients, Strabo and Aelian speak of _three_ soldiers only in addition to the driver, and Livy, describing the Battle of Magnesia, of _four_. These last are reasonable statements. (_Bochart_, _Hierozoicon_, ed. 3rd, p. 266; _Jord._, p. 26; _Philost._ trad. par _A. Chassaing_, liv. II. c. ii.; _Ibn Bat._ II. 223; _N. and E._ XIV. 510; _Cochin China_, etc., London, 1633, ed. 3; _Armandi, Hist. Militaire des Eléphants_, 259 _seqq._ 442.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Sir A. Phayre thinks this may have been _Vikrampúr_, for some time the capital of Eastern Bengal before the Mahomedan conquest. Vikrampúr was some miles east of Dacca, and the dynasty in question was that called _Vaidya_. (See _Lassen_, III. 749.) _Patteik-Kará_ is apparently an attempt to represent some Hindi name such as _Patthargarh_, “The Stone-Fort.” CHAPTER LII. OF THE BATTLE THAT WAS FOUGHT BY THE GREAT KAAN’S HOST AND HIS SENESCHAL, AGAINST THE KING OF MIEN. And when the Captain of the Tartar host had certain news that the king aforesaid was coming against him with so great a force, he waxed uneasy, seeing that he had with him but 12,000 horsemen. Natheless he was a most valiant and able soldier, of great experience in arms and an excellent Captain; and his name was NESCRADIN.{1} His troops too were very good, and he gave them very particular orders and cautions how to act, and took every measure for his own defence and that of his army. And why should I make a long story of it? The whole force of the Tartars, consisting of 12,000 well-mounted horsemen, advanced to receive the enemy in the Plain of Vochan, and there they waited to give them battle. And this they did through the good judgment of the excellent Captain who led them; for hard by that plain was a great wood, thick with trees. And so there in the plain the Tartars awaited their foe. Let us then leave discoursing of them a while; we shall come back to them presently; but meantime let us speak of the enemy. After the King of Mien had halted long enough to refresh his troops, he resumed his march, and came to the Plain of Vochan, where the Tartars were already in order of battle. And when the king’s army had arrived in the plain, and was within a mile of the enemy, he caused all the castles that were on the elephants to be ordered for battle, and the fighting-men to take up their posts on them, and he arrayed his horse and his foot with all skill, like a wise king as he was. And when he had completed all his arrangements he began to advance to engage the enemy. The Tartars, seeing the foe advance, showed no dismay, but came on likewise with good order and discipline to meet them. And when they were near and nought remained but to begin the fight, the horses of the Tartars took such fright at the sight of the elephants that they could not be got to face the foe, but always swerved and turned back; whilst all the time the king and his forces, and all his elephants, continued to advance upon them.{2} And when the Tartars perceived how the case stood, they were in great wrath, and wist not what to say or do; for well enough they saw that unless they could get their horses to advance, all would be lost. But their Captain acted like a wise leader who had considered everything beforehand. He immediately gave orders that every man should dismount and tie his horse to the trees of the forest that stood hard by, and that then they should take to their bows, a weapon that they know how to handle better than any troops in the world. They did as he bade them, and plied their bows stoutly, shooting so many shafts at the advancing elephants that in a short space they had wounded or slain the greater part of them as well as of the men they carried. The enemy also shot at the Tartars, but the Tartars had the better weapons, and were the better archers to boot. And what shall I tell you? Understand that when the elephants felt the smart of those arrows that pelted them like rain, they turned tail and fled, and nothing on earth would have induced them to turn and face the Tartars. So off they sped with such a noise and uproar that you would have trowed the world was coming to an end! And then too they plunged into the wood and rushed this way and that, dashing their castles against the trees, bursting their harness and smashing and destroying everything that was on them. So when the Tartars saw that the elephants had turned tail and could not be brought to face the fight again, they got to horse at once and charged the enemy. And then the battle began to rage furiously with sword and mace. Right fiercely did the two hosts rush together, and deadly were the blows exchanged. The king’s troops were far more in number than the Tartars, but they were not of such metal, nor so inured to war; otherwise the Tartars who were so few in number could never have stood against them. Then might you see swashing blows dealt and taken from sword and mace; then might you see knights and horses and men-at-arms go down; then might you see arms and hands and legs and heads hewn off: and besides the dead that fell, many a wounded man, that never rose again, for the sore press there was. The din and uproar were so great from this side and from that, that God might have thundered and no man would have heard it! Great was the medley, and dire and parlous was the fight that was fought on both sides; but the Tartars had the best of it.{3} In an ill hour indeed, for the king and his people, was that battle begun, so many of them were slain therein. And when they had continued fighting till midday the king’s troops could stand against the Tartars no longer; but felt that they were defeated, and turned and fled. And when the Tartars saw them routed they gave chase, and hacked and slew so mercilessly that it was a piteous sight to see. But after pursuing a while they gave up, and returned to the wood to catch the elephants that had run away, and to manage this they had to cut down great trees to bar their passage. Even then they would not have been able to take them without the help of the king’s own men who had been taken, and who knew better how to deal with the beasts than the Tartars did. The elephant is an animal that hath more wit than any other; but in this way at last they were caught, more than 200 of them. And it was from this time forth that the Great Kaan began to keep numbers of elephants. So thus it was that the king aforesaid was defeated by the sagacity and superior skill of the Tartars as you have heard. NOTE 1.—_Nescradin_ for Nesradin, as we had _Bascra_ for Basra. This NÁSRUDDIN was apparently an officer of whom Rashiduddin speaks, and whom he calls governor (or perhaps commander) in Karájáng. He describes him as having succeeded in that command to his father the Sayad Ajil of Bokhara, one of the best of Kúblái’s chief Ministers. Nasr-uddin retained his position in Yun-nan till his death, which Rashid, writing about 1300, says occurred five or six years before. His son Bayan, who also bore the grandfather’s title of Sayad Ajil, was Minister of Finance under Kúblái’s successor; and another son, Ḥálá, is also mentioned as one of the governors of the province of Fu-chau. (See _Cathay_, pp. 265, 268, and _D’Ohsson_, II. 507–508.) Nasr-uddin (_Nasulating_) is also frequently mentioned as employed on this frontier by the Chinese authorities whom Pauthier cites. [Na-su-la-ding [Nasr-uddin] was the eldest of the five sons of the Mohammedan Sai-dien-ch’i shan-sze-ding, Sayad Ajil, a native of Bokhara, who died in Yun-nan, where he had been governor when Kúblái, in the reign of Mangu, entered the country. Nasr-uddin “has a separate biography in ch. cxxv of the _Yuen-shi_. He was governor of the province of Yun-nan, and distinguished himself in the war against the southern tribes of _Kiao-chi_ (Cochin-China) and _Mien_ (Burma). He died in 1292, the father of twelve sons, the names of five of which are given in the biography, viz. _Bo-yen-ch’a-rh_ [Bayan], who held a high office, Omar, Djafar, Hussein, and Saadi.” (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. 270–271). Mr. E. H. Parker writes in the _China Review_, February–March, 1901, pp. 196–197, that the Mongol history states that amongst the reforms of Nasr-uddin’s father in Yun-nan, was the introduction of coffins for the dead, instead of burning them.—H. C.] [NOTE 2.—In his battle near Sardis, Cyrus “collected together all the camels that had come in the train of his army to carry the provisions and the baggage, and taking off their loads, he mounted riders upon them accoutred as horsemen. These he commanded to advance in front of his other troops against the Lydian horse.... The reason why Cyrus opposed his camels to the enemy’s horse was, because the horse has a natural dread of the camel, and cannot abide either the sight or the smell of that animal.... The two armies then joined battle, and immediately the Lydian war-horses, seeing and smelling the camels, turned round and galloped off.” (_Herodotus_, Bk. I. i. p. 220, _Rawlinson’s_ ed.)—H. C.] NOTE 3.—We are indebted to Pauthier for very interesting illustrations of this narrative from the Chinese Annalists (p. 410 _seqq._). These latter fix the date to the year 1277, and it is probable that the 1272 or MCCLXXII of the Texts was a clerical error for MCCLXXVII. The Annalists describe the people of Mien as irritated at calls upon them to submit to the Mongols (whose power they probably did not appreciate, as their descendants did not appreciate the British power in 1824), and as crossing the frontier of Yung-ch’ang to establish fortified posts. The force of Mien, they say, amounted to 50,000 men, with 800 elephants and 10,000 horses, whilst the Mongol Chief had but _seven hundred_ men. “When the elephants felt the arrows (of the Mongols) they turned tail and fled with the platforms on their backs into a place that was set thickly with sharp bamboo-stakes, and these their riders laid hold of to prick them with.” This threw the Burmese army into confusion; they fled, and were pursued with great slaughter. The Chinese author does not mention Nasr-uddin in connection with this battle. He names as the chief of the Mongol force _Huthukh_ (Kutuka?), commandant of Ta-li fu. Nasr-uddin is mentioned as advancing, a few months later (about December, 1277), with nearly 4000 men to Kiangtheu (which appears to have been on the Irawadi, somewhere near Bhamó, and is perhaps the Kaungtaung of the Burmese), but effecting little (p. 415). [I have published in the _Rev. Ext. Orient_, II. 72–88, from the British Museum _Add. MS._ 16913, the translation by Mgr. Visdelou, of Chinese documents relating to the Kingdom of Mien and the wars of Kúblái; the battle won by _Hu-tu_, commandant of Ta-li, was fought during the 3rd month of the 14th year (1277). (Cf. Pauthier, _supra_.)—H. C.] These affairs of the battle in the Yung-ch’ang territory, and the advance of Nasr-uddin to the Irawadi are, as Polo clearly implies in the beginning of ch. li., quite distinct from the invasion and conquest of Mien some years later, of which he speaks in ch. liv. They are not mentioned in the Burmese Annals at all. Sir Arthur Phayre is inclined to reject altogether the story of the battle near Yung-ch’ang in consequence of this absence from the _Burmese Chronicle_, and of its inconsistency with the purely defensive character which that record assigns to the action of the Burmese Government in regard to China at this time. With the strongest respect for my friend’s opinion I feel it impossible to assent to this. We have not only the concurrent testimony of Marco and of the Chinese Official Annals of the Mongol Dynasty to the facts of the Burmese provocation and of the engagement within the Yung-ch’ang or Vochan territory, but we have in the Chinese narrative a consistent chronology and tolerably full detail of the relations between the two countries. [Baber writes (p. 173): “Biot has it that Yung-ch’ang was first established by the Mings, long subsequent to the time of Marco’s visit, but the name was well known much earlier. The mention by Marco of the Plain of Vochan (Unciam would be a perfect reading), as if it were a plain _par excellence_, is strikingly consistent with the position of the city on the verge of the largest plain west of Yünnan-fu. Hereabouts was fought the great battle between the ‘valiant soldier and the excellent captain Nescradin,’ with his 12,000 well-mounted Tartars, against the King of Burmah and a large army, whose strength lay in 2000 elephants, on each of which was set a tower of timber full of well-armed fighting men. “There is no reason to suppose this ‘dire and parlous fight’ to be mythical, apart from the consistency of annals adduced by Colonel Yule; the local details of the narrative, particularly the prominent importance of the wood as an element of the Tartar success, are convincing. It seems to have been the first occasion on which the Mongols engaged a large body of elephants, and this, no doubt, made the victory memorable. “Marco informs us that ‘from this time forth the Great Khan began to keep numbers of elephants.’ It is obvious that cavalry could not manœuvre in a morass such as fronts the city. Let us refer to the account of the battle. “‘The Great Khan’s host was at Yung-ch’ang, from which they advanced into the plain, and there waited to give battle. This they did through the good judgment of the captain, for hard by that plain was a great wood thick with trees.’ The general’s purpose was more probably to occupy the dry undulating slopes near the south end of the valley. An advance of about five miles would have brought him to that position. The statement that ‘the King’s army arrived in the plain, and was within a mile of the enemy,’ would then accord perfectly with the conditions of the ground. The Burmese would have found themselves at about that distance from their foes as soon as they were fairly in the plain. “The trees ‘hard by the plain,’ to which the Tartars tied their horses, and in which the elephants were entangled, were in all probability in the corner below the ‘rolling hills’ marked in the chart. Very few trees remain, but in any case the grove would long ago have been cut down by the Chinese, as everywhere on inhabited plains. A short distance up the hill, however, groves of exceptionally fine trees are passed. The army, as it seems to us, must have entered the plain from its southernmost point. The route by which we departed on our way to Burmah would be very embarrassing, though perhaps not utterly impossible, for so great a number of elephants.”—H. C.] Between 1277 and the end of the century the Chinese Annals record three campaigns or expeditions against MIEN; viz. (1) that which Marco has related in this chapter; (2) that which he relates in ch. liv.; and (3) one undertaken in 1300 at the request of the son of the legitimate Burmese King, who had been put to death by an usurper. The Burmese Annals mention only the two latest, but, concerning both the date and the main circumstances of these two, Chinese and Burmese Annals are in almost entire agreement. Surely then it can scarcely be doubted that the Chinese authority is amply trustworthy for the _first_ campaign also, respecting which the Burmese book is silent; even were the former not corroborated by the independent authority of Marco. Indeed the mutual correspondence of these Annals, especially as to chronology, is very remarkable, and is an argument for greater respect to the chronological value of the Burmese Chronicle and other Indo-Chinese records of like character than we should otherwise be apt to entertain. Compare the story of the expedition of 1300 as told after the Chinese Annals by De Mailla, and after the Burmese Chronicle by Burney and Phayre. (See _De Mailla_, IX. 476 _seqq._; and _J. A. S. B._ vol. vi. pp. 121–122, and vol. xxxvii. Pt. I. pp. 102 and 110.) CHAPTER LIII. OF THE GREAT DESCENT THAT LEADS TOWARDS THE KINGDOM OF MIEN. After leaving the Province of which I have been speaking you come to a great Descent. In fact you ride for two days and a half continually down hill. On all this descent there is nothing worthy of mention except only that there is a large place there where occasionally a great market is held; for all the people of the country round come thither on fixed days, three times a week, and hold a market there. They exchange gold for silver; for they have gold in abundance; and they give one weight of fine gold for five weights of fine silver; so this induces merchants to come from various quarters bringing silver which they exchange for gold with these people; and in this way the merchants make great gain. As regards those people of the country who dispose of gold so cheaply, you must understand that nobody is acquainted with their places of abode, for they dwell in inaccessible positions, in sites so wild and strong that no one can get at them to meddle with them. Nor will they allow anybody to accompany them so as to gain a knowledge of their abodes.{1} After you have ridden those two days and a half down hill, you find yourself in a province towards the south which is pretty near to India, and this province is called AMIEN. You travel therein for fifteen days through a very unfrequented country, and through great woods abounding in elephants and unicorns and numbers of other wild beasts. There are no dwellings and no people, so we need say no more of this wild country, for in sooth there is nothing to tell. But I have a story to relate which you shall now hear{2}. NOTE 1.—In all the Shan towns visited by Major Sladen on this frontier he found markets held _every fifth day_. This custom, he says, is borrowed from China, and is general throughout Western Yun-nan. There seem to be traces of this five-day week over Indo-China, and it is found in Java; as it is in Mexico. The Kakhyens attend in great crowds. They do _not_ now bring gold for sale to Momein, though it is found to some extent in their hills, more especially in the direction of Mogaung, whence it is exported towards Assam. Major Sladen saw a small quantity of nuggets in the possession of a Kakhyen who had brought them from a hill two days north of Bhamó. (_MS. Notes by Major Sladen._) NOTE 2.—I confess that the indications in this and the beginning of the following chapter are, to me, full of difficulty. According to the general style of Polo’s itinerary, the 2½ days should be reckoned from Yung-ch’ang; the distance therefore to the capital city of Mien would be 17½ days. The real capital of Mien or Burma at this time was, however, Pagán, in lat. 21° 13′, and that city could hardly have been reached by a land traveller in any such time. We shall see that something may be said in behalf of the supposition that the point reached was _Tagaung_ or _Old Pagán_, on the upper Irawadi, in lat. 23° 28′; and there was perhaps some confusion in the traveller’s mind between this and the great city. The descent might then be from Yung-ch’ang to the valley of the Shwéli, and that valley then followed to the Irawadi. Taking as a scale Polo’s 5 marches from Tali to Yung-ch’ang, I find we should by this route make just about 17 marches from Yung-ch’ang to Tagaung. We have no detailed knowledge of the route, but there _is_ a road that way, and by no other does the plain country approach so near to Yung-ch’ang. (See _Anderson’s Report on Expedition to Western Yunnan_, p. 160.) Dr. Anderson’s remarks on the present question do not in my opinion remove the difficulties. He supposes the long descent to be the descent into the plains of the Irawadi near Bhamo; and from that point the land journey to Great Pagán could, he conceives, “easily be accomplished in 15 days.” I greatly doubt the latter assumption. By the scale I have just referred to it would take at least 20 days. And to calculate the 2½ days with which the journey commences from an indefinite point seems scarcely admissible. Polo is giving us a continuous _itinerary_; it would be ruptured if he left an indefinite distance between his last station and his “long descent.” And if the same principle were applied to the 5 days between Carajan (or Tali) and Vochan (Yung-ch’ang), the result would be nonsense. [Illustration: Temple of Gaudapalén (in the city of Mien), erected _circa_ A.D. 1160.] [_Mien-tien_, to which is devoted ch. vii. of the Chinese work _Sze-i-kwan-k’ao_, appears to have included much more than Burma proper. (See the passage _supra_, pp. 70–71, quoted by Devéria from the _Yuen-shi lei pien_ regarding _Kien-tou_ and _Kin-Chi_.)—H. C.] The hypothesis that I have suggested would suit better with the traveller’s representation of the country traversed as wild and uninhabited. In a journey to Great Pagán the most populous and fertile part of Burma would be passed through. [Baber writes (p. 180): “The generally received theory that ‘the great descent which leads towards the Kingdom of Mien,’ on which ‘you ride for two days and a half continually downhill,’ was the route from Yung-ch’ang to T’eng-Yueh, must be at once abandoned. Marco was, no doubt, speaking from hearsay, or rather, from a recollection of hearsay, as it does not appear that he possessed any notes; but there is good reason for supposing that he had personally visited Yung-ch’ang. Weary of the interminable mountain-paths, and encumbered with much baggage—for a magnate of Marco’s court influence could never, in the East, have travelled without a considerable state—impeded, in addition, by a certain quantity of merchandise, for he was ‘discreet and prudent in every way,’ he would have listened longingly to the report of an easy ride of two and a half days downhill, and would never have forgotten it. That such a route exists I am well satisfied. Where is it? The stream which drains the Yung-ch’ang plain communicates with the Salwen by a river called the ‘Nan-tien,’ not to be confounded with the ‘Nan-ting,’ about 45 miles south of that city, a fair journey of two and a half days. Knowing, as we now do, that it must descend some 3500 feet in that distance, does it not seem reasonable to suppose that the valley of this rivulet is the route alluded to? The great battle on the Yung-ch’ang plain, moreover, was fought only a few years before Marco’s visit, and seeing that the king and his host of elephants in all probability entered the valley from the south, travellers to Burma would naturally have quitted it by the same route. “But again, our mediæval Herodotus reports that ‘the country is wild and hard of access, full of great woods and mountains which ’tis impossible to pass, the air is so impure and unwholesome; and any foreigners attempting it would die for certain.’ “This is exactly and literally the description given us of the district in which we crossed the Salwen. “To insist on the theory of the descent by this route is to make the traveller ride downhill, ‘over mountains it is impossible to pass.’ “The fifteen days’ subsequent journey described by Marco need not present much difficulty. The distance from the junction of the Nan-tien with the Salwen to the capital of Burma (Pagán) would be something over 300 miles; fifteen days seems a fair estimate for the distance, seeing that a great part of the journey would doubtless be by boat.” Regarding this last paragraph, Captain Gill says (II. 345): “An objection may be raised that no such route as this is known to exist; but it must be remembered that the Burmese capital changes its position every now and then, and it is obvious that the trade routes would be directed to the capital, and would change with it. Altogether, with the knowledge at present available, this certainly seems the most satisfactory interpretation of the old traveller’s story.”—H. C.] CHAPTER LIV. CONCERNING THE CITY OF MIEN, AND THE TWO TOWERS THAT ARE THEREIN, ONE OF GOLD AND THE OTHER OF SILVER. And when you have travelled those 15 days through such a difficult country as I have described, in which travellers have to carry provisions for the road because there are no inhabitants, then you arrive at the capital city of this Province of Mien, and it also is called AMIEN, and is a very great and noble city.{1} The people are Idolaters and have a peculiar language, and are subject to the Great Kaan. And in this city there is a thing so rich and rare that I must tell you about it. You see there was in former days a rich and puissant king in this city, and when he was about to die he commanded that by his tomb they should erect two towers [one at either end], one of gold and the other of silver, in such fashion as I shall tell you. The towers are built of fine stone; and then one of them has been covered with gold a good finger in thickness, so that the tower looks as if it were all of solid gold; and the other is covered with silver in like manner so that it seems to be all of solid silver. Each tower is a good ten paces in height and of breadth in proportion. The upper part of these towers is round, and girt all about with bells, the top of the gold tower with gilded bells and the silver tower with silvered bells, insomuch that whenever the wind blows among these bells they tinkle. [The tomb likewise was plated partly with gold, and partly with silver.] The King caused these towers to be erected to commemorate his magnificence and for the good of his soul; and really they do form one of the finest sights in the world; so exquisitely finished are they, so splendid and costly. And when they are lighted up by the sun they shine most brilliantly and are visible from a vast distance. Now you must know that the Great Kaan conquered the country in this fashion. You see at the Court of the Great Kaan there was a great number of gleemen and jugglers; and he said to them one day that he wanted them to go and conquer the aforesaid province of Mien, and that he would give them a good Captain to lead them and other good aid. And they replied that they would be delighted. So the Emperor caused them to be fitted out with all that an army requires, and gave them a Captain and a body of men-at-arms to help them; and so they set out, and marched until they came to the country and province of Mien. And they did conquer the whole of it! And when they found in the city the two towers of gold and silver of which I have been telling you, they were greatly astonished, and sent word thereof to the Great Kaan, asking what he would have them do with the two towers, seeing what a great quantity of wealth there was upon them. And the Great Kaan, being well aware that the King had caused these towers to be made for the good of his soul, and to preserve his memory after his death, said that he would not have them injured, but would have them left precisely as they were. And that was no wonder either, for you must know that no Tartar in the world will ever, if he can help it, lay hand on anything appertaining to the dead.{2} [Illustration: THE CITY OF MIEN WITH THE GOLD AND SILVER TOWERS] They have in this province numbers of elephants and wild oxen;{3} also beautiful stags and deer and roe, and other kinds of large game in plenty. Now having told you about the province of Mien, I will tell you about another province which is called Bangala, as you shall hear presently. NOTE 1.—The name of the city appears as _Amien_ both in Pauthier’s text here, and in the G. Text in the preceding chapter. In the Bern MS. it is _Aamien_. Perhaps some form like _Amien_ was that used by the Mongols and Persians. I fancy it may be traced in the _Arman_ or _Uman_ of Rashiduddin, probably corrupt readings (in _Elliot_ I. 72). NOTE 2.—M. Pauthier’s extracts are here again very valuable. We gather from them that the first Mongol communication with the King of Mien or Burma took place in 1271, when the Commandant of Tali-fu sent a deputation to that sovereign to demand an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Emperor. This was followed by various negotiations and acts of offence on both sides, which led to the campaign of 1277, already spoken of. For a few years no further events appear to be recorded, but in 1282, in consequence of a report from Násruddin of the ease with which Mien could be conquered, an invasion was ordered under a Prince of the Blood called Siangtaur [called _Siam-ghu-talh_, by Visdelou.—H. C.]. This was probably _Singtur_, great-grandson of one of the brothers of Chinghiz, who a few years later took part in the insurrection of Nayan. (See _D’Ohsson_, II. 461.) The army started from Yun-nan fu, then called Chung-khing (and the _Yachi_ of Polo) in the autumn of 1283. We are told that the army made use of boats to descend the River _Oho_ to the fortified city of Kiangtheu (see _supra_, note 3, ch. lii.), which they took and sacked; and as the King still refused to submit, they then advanced to the “primitive capital,” _Taikung_, which they captured. Here Pauthier’s details stop. (Pp. 405, 416; see also _D’Ohsson_, II. 444 [and _Visdelou_].) [Illustration: The Palace of the King of Mien in modern times.] It is curious to compare these narratives with that from the Burmese Royal Annals given by Colonel Burney, and again by Sir A. Phayre in the _J. A. S. B._ (IV. 401, and XXXVII. Pt. I. p. 101.) Those annals afford no mention of transactions with the Mongols previous to 1281. In that year they relate that a mission of ten nobles and 1000 horse came from the Emperor to demand gold and silver vessels as symbols of homage on the ground of an old precedent. The envoys conducted themselves disrespectfully (the tradition was that they refused to take off their boots, an old grievance at the Burmese court), and the King put them all to death. The Emperor of course was very wroth, and sent an army of 6,000,000 of horse and 20,000,000 of foot (!) to invade Burma. The Burmese generals had their _point d’appui_ at the city of _Nga-tshaung-gyan_, apparently somewhere near the mouth of the Bhamó River, and after a protracted resistance on that river, they were obliged to retire. They took up a new point of defence on the Hill of Malé, which they had fortified. Here a decisive battle was fought, and the Burmese were entirely routed. The King, on hearing of their retreat from Bhamó, at first took measures for fortifying his capital Pagán, and destroyed 6000 temples of various sizes to furnish material. But after all he lost heart, and embarking with his treasure and establishments on the Irawadi, fled down that river to Bassein in the Delta. The Chinese continued the pursuit long past Pagán till they reached the place now called _Tarokmau_ or “Chinese Point,” 30 miles below Prome. Here they were forced by want of provisions to return. The Burmese Annals place the abandonment of Pagán by the King in 1284, a most satisfactory synchronism with the Chinese record. It is a notable point in Burmese history, for it marked the fall of an ancient Dynasty which was speedily followed by its extinction, and the abandonment of the capital. The King is known in the Burmese Annals as _Tarok-pyé-Meng_, “The King who fled from the _Tarok_.”[1] In Dr. Mason’s abstract of the Pegu Chronicle we find the notable statement with reference to this period that “the Emperor of China, having subjugated Pagán, his troops with the Burmese entered Pegu and invested several cities.” We see that the Chinese Annals, as quoted, mention only the “capitale primitive” _Taikung_, which I have little doubt Pauthier is right in identifying with _Tagaung_, traditionally the most ancient royal city of Burma, and the remains of which stand side by side with those of _Old_ Pagán, a later but still very ancient capital, on the east bank of the Irawadi, in about lat. 23° 28′. The Chinese extracts give no idea of the temporary completeness of the conquest, nor do they mention Great Pagán (lat. 21° 13′), a city whose vast remains I have endeavoured partially to describe.[2] Sir Arthur Phayre, from a careful perusal of the Burmese Chronicle, assures me that there can be no doubt that _this_ was at the time in question the Burmese Royal Residence, and the city alluded to in the Burmese narrative. M. Pauthier is mistaken in supposing that Tarok-Mau, the turning-point of the Chinese Invasion, lay north of this city: he has not unnaturally confounded it with Tarok-_Myo_ or “China-Town,” a district not far below Ava. Moreover Malé, the position of the decisive victory of the Chinese, is itself much to the south of Tagaung (about 22° 55′). Both Pagán and Malé are mentioned in a remarkable Chinese notice extracted in _Amyot’s Mémoires_ (XIV. 292): “Mien-Tien ... had five chief towns, of which the first was _Kiangtheu_ (_supra_, pp. 105, 111), the second _Taikung_, the third _Malai_, the fourth Ngan-cheng-kwé (? perhaps the _Nga-tshaung gyan_ of the Burmese Annals), the fifth PUKAN MIEN-WANG (Pagán of the Mien King?). The Yuen carried war into this country, particularly during the reign of Shun-Ti, the last Mongol Emperor [1333–1368], who, after subjugating it, erected at Pukan Mien-Wang a tribunal styled _Hwen-wei-she-sé_, the authority of which extended over Pang-ya and all its dependencies.” This is evidently founded on actual documents, for Panya or Pengya, otherwise styled Vijáyapúra, was the capital of Burma during part of the 14th century, between the decay of Pagán and the building of Ava. But none of the translated extracts from the Burmese Chronicle afford corroboration. From Sangermano’s abstract, however, we learn that the King of Panya from 1323 to 1343 was the _son of a daughter of the Emperor of China_ (p. 42). I may also refer to Pemberton’s abstract of the Chronicle of the Shan State of Pong in the Upper Irawadi valley, which relates that about the middle of the 14th century the Chinese invaded Pong and took Maung Maorong, the capital.[3] The Shan King and his son fled to the King of Burma for protection, but _the Burmese surrendered them_ and they were carried to China. (_Report on E. Frontier of Bengal_, p. 112.) I see no sufficient evidence as to whether Marco himself visited the “city of Mien.” I think it is quite clear that his account of the _conquest_ is from the merest hearsay, not to say gossip. Of the absurd story of the jugglers we find no suggestion in the Chinese extracts. We learn from them that Násruddin had represented the conquest of Mien as a very easy task, and Kúblái may have in jest asked his gleemen if they would undertake it. The haziness of Polo’s account of the conquest contrasts strongly with his graphic description of the rout of the elephants at Vochan. Of the latter he heard the particulars on the spot (I conceive) shortly after the event; whilst the conquest took place some years later than his mission to that frontier. His description of the gold and silver pagodas with their canopies of tinkling bells (the Burmese _Htí_), certainly looks like a sketch from the life;[4] and it is quite possible that some negotiations between 1277 and 1281 may have given him the opportunity of visiting Burma, though he may not have reached the capital. Indeed he would in that case surely have given a distincter account of so important a city, the aspect of which in its glory we have attempted to realize in the plate of “the city of Mien.” It is worthy of note that the unfortunate King then reigning in Pagán, had in 1274 finished a magnificent Pagoda called _Mengala-dzedi (Mangala Chaitya)_ respecting which ominous prophecies had been diffused. In this pagoda were deposited, besides holy relics, golden images of the Disciples of Buddha, golden models of the holy places, golden images of the King’s fifty-one predecessors in Pagán, and of the King and his Family. It is easy to suspect a connection of this with Marco’s story. “It is possible that the King’s ashes may have been intended to be buried near those relics, though such is not now the custom; and Marco appears to have confounded the custom of depositing relics of Buddha and ancient holy men in pagodas with the _supposed_ custom of the burial of the dead. Still, even now, monuments are occasionally erected over the dead in Burma, although the practice is considered a vain folly. I have known a miniature pagoda with a _hti_ complete, erected over the ashes of a favourite disciple by a _P’hungyi_ or Buddhist monk.” The latter practice is common in China. (_Notes by Sir A. Phayre; J. A. S. B._ IV. _u.s._, also V. 164, VI. 251; _Mason’s Burmah_, 2nd ed. p. 26; _Milne’s Life in China_, pp. 288, 450.) NOTE 3.—The Gaur—_Bos Gaurus_, or _B. (Bibos) Cavifrons_ of Hodgson—exists in certain forests of the Burmese territory; and, in the south at least, a wild ox nearer the domestic species, _Bos Sondaicus_. Mr. Gouger, in his book _The Prisoner in Burma_, describes the rare spectacle which he once enjoyed in the Tenasserim forests of a herd of wild cows at graze. He speaks of them as small and elegant, without hump, and of a light reddish dun colour (pp. 326–327). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] This is the name now applied in Burma to the Chinese. Sir A. Phayre supposes it to be _Túrk_, in which case its use probably began at this time. [2] In the Narrative of Phayre’s Mission, ch. ii. [3] Dr. Anderson has here hastily assumed a discrepancy of sixty years between the chronology of the Shan document and that of the Chinese Annals. But this is merely because he arbitrarily identifies the Chinese invasion here recorded with that of Kúblái in the preceding century. (See _Anderson’s Western Yunnan_, p. 8.) We see in the quotation above from Amyot that the Chinese Annals also contain an obscure indication of the later invasion. [4] Compare the old Chinese Pilgrims Hwui Seng and Seng Yun, in their admiration of a vast pagoda erected by the great King Kanishka in Gandhára (at Peshawur in fact): “At sunrise the gilded disks of the vane are lit up with dazzling glory, whilst the gentle breeze of morning causes the precious bells to tinkle with a pleasing sound.” (_Beal_, p. 204.) CHAPTER LV. CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF BANGALA. Bangala is a Province towards the south, which up to the year 1290, when the aforesaid Messer Marco Polo was still at the Court of the Great Kaan, had not yet been conquered; but his armies had gone thither to make the conquest. You must know that this province has a peculiar language, and that the people are wretched Idolaters. They are tolerably close to India. There are numbers of eunuchs there, insomuch that all the Barons who keep them get them from that Province.{1} The people have oxen as tall as elephants, but not so big.{2} They live on flesh and milk and rice. They grow cotton, in which they drive a great trade, and also spices such as spikenard, galingale, ginger, sugar, and many other sorts. And the people of India also come thither in search of the eunuchs that I mentioned, and of slaves, male and female, of which there are great numbers, taken from other provinces with which those of the country are at war; and these eunuchs and slaves are sold to the Indian and other merchants who carry them thence for sale about the world. There is nothing more to mention about this country, so we will quit it, and I will tell you of another province called Caugigu. NOTE 1.—I do not think it probable that Marco even touched at any port of Bengal on that mission to the Indian Seas of which we hear in the prologue; but he certainly never reached it from the Yun-nan side, and he had, as we shall presently see (_infra_, ch. lix. note 6), a wrong notion as to its position. Indeed, if he had visited it at all, he would have been aware that it was essentially a part of India, whilst in fact he evidently regarded it as an _Indo-Chinese_ region, like Zardandan, Mien, and Caugigu. There is no notice, I believe, in any history, Indian or Chinese, of an attempt by Kúblái to conquer Bengal. The only such attempt by the Mongols that we hear of is one mentioned by Firishta, as made by way of Cathay and Tibet, during the reign of Aláuddin Masa’úd, king of Delhi, in 1244, and stated to have been defeated by the local officers in Bengal. But Mr. Edward Thomas tells me he has most distinctly ascertained that this statement, which has misled every historian “from Badauni and Firishtah to Briggs and Elphinstone, is founded purely on an erroneous reading” (and see a note in Mr. Thomas’s _Pathan Kings of Dehli_, p. 121). The date 1290 in the text would fix the period of Polo’s final departure from Peking, if the dates were not so generally corrupt. The subject of the last part of this paragraph, recurred to in the next, has been misunderstood and corrupted in Pauthier’s text, and partially in Ramusio’s. These make the _escuillés_ or _escoilliez_ (vide _Ducange_ in v. _Escodatus_, and _Raynouard, Lex. Rom._ VI. 11) into _scholars_ and what not. But on comparison of the passages in those two editions with the Geographic Text one cannot doubt the correct reading. As to the fact that Bengal had an evil notoriety for this traffic, especially the province of Silhet, see the _Ayeen Akbery_, II. 9–11, _Barbosa’s _chapter on Bengal, and _De Barros_ (_Ramusio_ I. 316 and 391). On the cheapness of slaves in Bengal, see _Ibn Batuta_, IV. 211–212. He says people from Persia used to call Bengal _Dúzakh pur-i ni’amat_, “a hell crammed with good things,” an appellation perhaps provoked by the official style often applied to it of _Jannat-ul-balád_ or “Paradise of countries.” Professor H. Blochmann, who is, in admirable essays, redeeming the long neglect of the history and archæology of Bengal Proper by our own countrymen, says that one of the earliest passages, in which the name _Bangálah_ occurs, is in a poem of Hafiz, sent from Shiraz to Sultan Ghiássuddín, who reigned in Bengal from 1367 to 1373. Its occurrence in our text, however, shows that the name was in use among the Mahomedan foreigners (from whom Polo derived his nomenclature) nearly a century earlier. And in fact it occurs (though corruptly in some MSS.) in the history of Rashiduddin, our author’s contemporary. (See _Elliot_, I. p. 72.) NOTE 2.—“Big as elephants” is only a _façon de parler_, but Marsden quotes modern exaggerations as to the height of the _Arna_ or wild buffalo, more specific and extravagant. The unimpeachable authority of Mr. Hodgson tells us that the Arna in the Nepal Tarai sometimes does reach a height of 6 ft. 6 in. at the shoulder, with a length of 10 ft. 6 in. (excluding tail), and horns of 6 ft. 6 in. (_J. A. S. B._, XVI. 710.) Marco, however, seems to be speaking of _domestic_ cattle. Some of the breeds of Upper India are very tall and noble animals, far surpassing in height any European oxen known to me; but in modern times these are rarely seen in Bengal, where the cattle are poor and stunted. The _Aín Akbari_, however, speaks of Sharífábád in Bengal, which appears to have corresponded to modern Bardwán, as producing very beautiful white oxen, of great size, and capable of carrying a load of 15 _mans_, which at Prinsep’s estimate of Akbar’s _man_ would be about 600 lbs. CHAPTER LVI. DISCOURSES OF THE PROVINCE OF CAUGIGU. Caugigu is a province towards the east, which has a king.{1} The people are Idolaters, and have a language of their own. They have made their submission to the Great Kaan, and send him tribute every year. And let me tell you their king is so given to luxury that he hath at the least 300 wives; for whenever he hears of any beautiful woman in the land, he takes and marries her. They find in this country a good deal of gold, and they also have great abundance of spices. But they are such a long way from the sea that the products are of little value, and thus their price is low. They have elephants in great numbers, and other cattle of sundry kinds, and plenty of game. They live on flesh and milk and rice, and have wine made of rice and good spices. The whole of the people, or nearly so, have their skin marked with the needle in patterns representing lions, dragons, birds, and what not, done in such a way that it can never be obliterated. This work they cause to be wrought over face and neck and chest, arms and hands, and belly, and, in short, the whole body; and they look on it as a token of elegance, so that those who have the largest amount of this embroidery are regarded with the greatest admiration. NOTE 1.—No province mentioned by Marco has given rise to wider and wilder conjectures than this, _Cangigu_ as it has been generally printed. M. Pauthier, who sees in it Laos, or rather one of the states of Laos called in the Chinese histories _Papesifu_, seems to have formed the most probable opinion hitherto propounded by any editor of Polo. I have no doubt that Laos or some part of that region is meant to be _described_, and that Pauthier is right regarding the general direction of the course here taken as being through the regions east of Burma, in a north-easterly direction up into Kwei-chau. But we shall be able to review the geography of this tract better, as a whole, at a point more advanced. I shall then speak of the name CAUGIGU, and why I prefer this reading of it. I do not believe, for reasons which will also appear further on, that Polo is now following a route which he had traced in person, unless it be in the latter part of it. M. Pauthier, from certain indications in a Chinese work, fixes on Chiangmai or Kiang-mai, the Zimmé of the Burmese (in about latitude 18° 48′ and long. 99° 30′) as the capital of the Papesifu and of the Caugigu of our text. It can scarcely however be the latter, unless we throw over entirely all the intervals stated in Polo’s itinerary; and M. Garnier informs me that he has evidence that the capital of the Papesifu at this time was _Muang-Yong_, a little to the south-east of Kiang-Tung, where he has seen its ruins.[1] That the people called by the Chinese Papesifu were of the great race of Laotians, Sháns, or _Thai_, is very certain, from the vocabulary of their language published by Klaproth. [Illustration: Script _Pa-pe_.] Pauthier’s Chinese authority gives a puerile interpretation of _Papesifu_ as signifying “the kingdom of the 800 wives,” and says it was called so because the Prince maintained that establishment. This may be an indication that there were popular stories about the numerous wives of the King of Laos, such as Polo had heard; but the interpretation is doubtless rubbish, like most of the so-called etymologies of proper names applied by the Chinese to foreign regions. At best these seem to be merely a kind of _Memoria Technica_, and often probably bear no more relation to the name in its real meaning than Swift’s _All-eggs-under-the-grate_ bears to Alexander Magnus. How such “etymologies” arise is obvious from the nature of the Chinese system of writing. If we also had to express proper names by combining monosyllabic words already existing in English, we should in fact be obliged to write the name of the Macedonian hero much as Swift travestied it. As an example we may give the Chinese name of Java, _Kwawa_, which signifies “gourd-sound,” and was given to that Island, we are told, because the voice of its inhabitants is very like that of a dry gourd rolled upon the ground! It is usually stated that Tungking was called _Kiao-chi_, meaning “crossed-toes,” because the people often exhibit that malformation (which is a fact), but we may be certain that the syllables were originally a phonetic representation of an indigenous name which has no such meaning. As another example, less ridiculous but not more true, _Chin-tan_, representing the Indian name of China, _Chínasthána_, is explained to mean “Eastern-Dawn” (_Aurore Orientale_). (_Amyot_, XIV. 101; _Klapr. Mém._ III. 268.) The states of Laos are shut out from the sea in the manner indicated; they abound in domestic elephants to an extraordinary extent; and the people do tattoo themselves in various degrees, most of all (as M. Garnier tells me) about Kiang Hung. The _style_ of tattooing which the text describes is quite that of the Burmese, in speaking of whom Polo has omitted to mention the custom: “Every male Burman is tattooed in his boyhood from the middle to his knees; in fact he has a pair of breeches tattooed on him. The pattern is a fanciful medley of animals and arabesques, but it is scarcely distinguishable, save as a general tint, except on a fair skin.” (_Mission to Ava_, 151.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Indeed documents in Klaproth’s _Asia Polyglotta_ show that the _Papé_ state was also called _Muang-Yong_ (pp. 364–365). I observe that the river running to the east of Pu-eul and Ssemao (Puer and Esmok) is called _Papien_-Kiang, the name of which is perhaps a memorial of the Papé. [The old Laocian kingdom of _Xieng-maï_ [Kiang-mai], called _Muong-Yong_ by the Pa-y, was inhabited by the _Pa-pe Si-fu_ or Bát-bá T’úc-phu; the inhabitants called themselves Thaï-niai or great Thaï. (_Devéria, Frontière_, p. 100.) Ch. ix. of the Chinese work _Sze-i-kwan-kao_ is devoted to Xieng-maï (_Pa-pe_), which includes the subdivisions of Laos, Xieng Hung [Kiang Hung] and Muong-Ken. (_Devéria, Mél. de Harlez_, p. 97.)—H. C.] CHAPTER LVII. CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ANIN. Anin is a Province towards the east, the people of which are subject to the Great Kaan, and are Idolaters. They live by cattle and tillage, and have a peculiar language. The women wear on the legs and arms bracelets of gold and silver of great value, and the men wear such as are even yet more costly. They have plenty of horses which they sell in great numbers to the Indians, making a great profit thereby. And they have also vast herds of buffaloes and oxen, having excellent pastures for these. They have likewise all the necessaries of life in abundance.{1} Now you must know that between Anin and Caugigu, which we have left behind us, there is a distance of [25] days’ journey;{2} and from Caugigu to Bangala, the third province in our rear, is 30 days’ journey. We shall now leave Anin and proceed to another province which is some 8 days’ journey further, always going eastward. NOTE 1.—Ramusio, the printed text of the Soc. de Géographie, and most editions have _Amu_; Pauthier reads _Aniu_, and considers the name to represent Tungking or Annam, called also _Nan-yué_. The latter word he supposes to be converted into _Anyuë_, _Aniu_. And accordingly he carries the traveller to the capital of Tungking. Leaving the name for the present, according to the scheme of the route as I shall try to explain it below, I should seek for Amu or Aniu or _Anin_ in the extreme south-east of Yun-nan. A part of this region was for the first time traversed by the officers of the French expedition up the Mekong, who in 1867 visited Sheu-ping, Lin-ngan and the upper valley of the River of Tungking on their way to Yun-nan-fu. To my question whether the description in the text, of Aniu or Anin and its fine pastures, applied to the tract just indicated, Lieut. Garnier replied on the whole favourably (see further on), proceeding: “The population about Sheu-ping is excessively mixt. On market days at that town one sees a gathering of wild people in great number and variety, and whose costumes are highly picturesque, as well as often very rich. There are the _Pa-is_, who are also found again higher up, the _Ho-nhi_, the _Khato_, the _Lopé_, the _Shentseu_. These tribes appear to be allied in part to the Laotians, in part to the Kakhyens.... The wilder races about Sheuping are remarkably handsome, and you see there types of women exhibiting an extraordinary regularity of feature, and at the same time a complexion surprisingly _white_. The Chinese look quite an inferior race beside them.... I may add that all these tribes, especially the Ho-nhi and the Pa-ï, wear large amounts of silver ornament; great collars of silver round the neck, as well as on the legs and arms.” Though the _whiteness_ of the people of Anin is not noticed by Polo, the distinctive manner in which he speaks in the next chapter of the _dark_ complexion of the tribes described therein seems to indicate the probable omission of the opposite trait here. The prominent position assigned in M. Garnier’s remarks to a race called _Ho-nhi_ first suggested to me that the reading of the text might be ANIN instead of _Aniu_. And as a matter of fact this seems to my eyes to be clearly the reading of the Paris _Livre des Merveilles_ (Pauthier’s MS. B), while the Paris No. 5631 (Pauthier’s A) has _Auin_, and what may be either _Aniu_ or _Anin_. _Anyn_ is also found in the Latin Brandenburg MS. of Pipino’s version collated by Andrew Müller, to which, however, we cannot ascribe much weight. But the two words are so nearly identical in mediæval writing, and so little likely to be discriminated by scribes who had nothing to guide their discrimination, that one need not hesitate to adopt that which is supported by argument. In reference to the suggested identity of _Anin_ and _Ho-nhi_, M. Garnier writes again: “All that Polo has said regarding the country of Aniu, though not containing anything _very_ characteristic, may apply perfectly to the different indigenous tribes, at present subject to the Chinese, which are dispersed over the country from Talan to Sheuping and Lin-ngan. These tribes bearing the names (given above) relate that they in other days formed an independent state, to which they give the name of _Muang Shung_. Where this Muang was situated there is no knowing. These tribes have _langage par euls_, as Marco Polo says, and silver ornaments are worn by them to this day in extraordinary profusion; more, however, by the women than the men. They have plenty of horses, buffaloes and oxen, and of sheep as well. It was the first locality in which the latter were seen. The plateau of Lin-ngan affords pasture-grounds which are exceptionally good for that part of the world. [Illustration: Ho-nhi and other Tribes in the Department of Lin-ngan in S. Yun-nan (supposed to be the Anin country of Marco Polo). (From Garnier’s Work.)] “Beyond Lin-ngan we find the Ho-nhi, properly so called, no longer. But ought one to lay much stress on mere names which have undergone so many changes, and of which so many have been borne in succession by all those places and peoples?... I will content myself with reminding you that the town of _Homi-cheu_ near Lin-ngan in the days of the Yuen bore the name of _Ngo-ning_.” Notwithstanding M. Garnier’s caution, I am strongly inclined to believe that ANIN represents either HO-NHI or NGO-NING, if indeed these names be not identical. For on reference to Biot I see that the first syllable of the modern name of the town which M. Garnier writes HO_mí_, is expressed by the same character as the first syllable of NGO_ning_. [The Wo-nhi are also called Ngo-ni, Kan-ni, Ho-ni, Lou-mi, No-pi, Ko-ni and Wa-heh; they descend from the southern barbarians called Ho-nhi. At the time of the kingdom of Nan-Chao, the Ho-nhi, called In-yuen, tribes were a dependence of the Kiang (Xieng) of Wei-yuen (Prefecture of P’u-erh). They are now to be found in the Yunnanese prefectures of Lin-ngan, King-tung, Chen-yuen, Yuen-kiang and Yun-nan. (See _Devéria_, p. 135.)—H. C.] We give one of M. Garnier’s woodcuts representing some of the races in this vicinity. Their dress, as he notices, has, in some cases, a curious resemblance to costumes of Switzerland, or of Brittany, popular at fancy balls.[1] Coloured figures of some of these races will be found in the Atlas to Garnier’s work; see especially Plate 35. NOTE 2.—All the French MSS. and other texts except Ramusio’s read 15. We adopt Ramusio’s reading, 25, for reasons which will appear below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] There is a little uncertainty in the adjustment of names and figures of some of these tribes, between the illustrations and the incidental notices in Lieutenant Garnier’s work. But all the figures in the present cut certainly belong to the tract to which we point as Anin; and the two middle figures answer best to what is said of the _Ho-nhi_. CHAPTER LVIII. CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF COLOMAN. Coloman is a province towards the east, the people of which are Idolaters and have a peculiar language, and are subject to the Great Kaan. They are a [tall and] very handsome people, though in complexion brown rather than white, and are good soldiers.{1} They have a good many towns, and a vast number of villages, among great mountains, and in strong positions.{2} When any of them die, the bodies are burnt, and then they take the bones and put them in little chests. These are carried high up the mountains, and placed in great caverns, where they are hung up in such wise that neither man nor beast can come at them. A good deal of gold is found in the country, and for petty traffic they use porcelain shells such as I have told you of before. All these provinces that I have been speaking of, to wit Bangala and Caugigu and Anin, employ for currency porcelain shells and gold. There are merchants in this country who are very rich and dispose of large quantities of goods. The people live on flesh and rice and milk, and brew their wine from rice and excellent spices. NOTE 1.—The only MSS. that afford the reading _Coloman_ or _Choloman_ instead of _Toloman_ or _Tholoman_, are the Bern MS., which has _Coloman_ in the initial word of the chapter, Paris MS. 5649 (Pauthier’s C) which has _Coloman_ in the Table of Chapters, but not in the text, the Bodleian, and the Brandenburg MS. quoted in the last note. These variations in themselves have little weight. But the confusion between _c_ and _t_ in mediæval MSS., when dealing with strange names, is so constant that I have ventured to make the correction, in strong conviction that it is the right reading. M. Pauthier indeed, after speaking of tribes called _Lo_ on the south-west of China, adds, “on les nommait _To-lo-man_ (‘les nombreux Barbares Lo’).” Were this latter statement founded on actual evidence we might retain that form which is the usual reading. But I apprehend from the manner in which M. Pauthier produces it, without corroborative quotation, that he is rather hazarding a conjecture than speaking with authority. Be that as it may, it is impossible that Polo’s Toloman or Coloman should have been in the south of Kwangsi, where Pauthier locates it. On the other hand, we find tribes of both _Kolo_ and _Kihlau_ Barbarians (_i.e._ _Mán_, whence KOLO-MÁN or _Kihlau-mán_) very numerous on the frontier of Kweichau. (See _Bridgman’s transl. of Tract on Meautsze_, pp. 265, 269, 270, 272, 273, 274, 275, 278, 279, 280.) Among these the _Kolo_, described as No. 38 in that Tract, appear to me from various particulars to be the most probable representatives of the Coloman of Polo, notwithstanding the sentence with which the description opens: “_Kolo_ originally called _Luluh_; the modern designation _Kolo_ is incorrect.”[1] They are at present found in the prefecture of Tating (one of the departments of Kweichau towards the Yun-nan side). “They are _tall, of a dark complexion_, with sunken eyes, aquiline nose, wear long whiskers, and have the beard shaved off above the mouth. They pay great deference to demons, and on that account are sometimes called ‘Dragons of Lo.’... At the present time these Kolo are divided into 48 clans, the elders of which are called Chieftains (lit. ‘Head-and-Eyes’) and are of nine grades.... The men bind their hair into a tuft with blue cloth and make it fast on the forehead like a horn. Their upper dresses are short, with large sleeves, and their lower garments are fine blue. When one of the chieftains dies, all that were under him are assembled together clad in armour and on horseback. Having dressed his corpse in silk and woollen robes, they burn it in the open country; then, invoking the departed spirit, they inter the ashes. Their attachment to him as their sole master is such that nothing can drive or tempt them from their allegiance. Their large bows, long spears, and sharp swords, are strong and well-wrought. They train excellent horses, love archery and hunting; and so expert are they in tactics that _their soldiers rank as the best among all the uncivilized tribes_. There is this proverb: ‘The Lo Dragons of Shwui-si rap the head and strike the tail,’ which is intended to indicate their celerity in defence.” (_Bridgman_, pp. 272–273.) The character _Lo_, here applied in the Chinese Tract to these people, is the same as that in the name of the Kwangsi _Lo_ of M. Pauthier. I append a cut (opposite page) from the drawing representing these Kolo-man in the original work from which Bridgman translated, and which is in the possession of Dr. Lockhart. [I believe we must read _To-lo-man_. _Man_, barbarian, _T’u-lao_ or _Shan-tzŭ_ (mountaineers) who live in the Yunnanese prefectures of Lin-ngan, Cheng-kiang, etc. T’u-la-Man or T’u-la barbarians of the Mongol Annals. (_Yuen-shi lei-pien_, quoted by Devéria, p. 115.)—H. C.] NOTE 2.—Magaillans, speaking of the semi-independent tribes of Kwei-chau and Kwang-si, says: “Their towns are usually so girt by high mountains and scarped rocks that it seems as if nature had taken a pleasure in fortifying them” (p. 43). (See cut at p. 131.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the other hand, M. Garnier writes: “I do not know any name at all like _Kolo_, except _Lolo_, the generic name given by the Chinese to the wild tribes of Yun-nan.” Does not this look as if _Kolo_ were really the old name, _Luluh_ or Lolo the later? CHAPTER LIX. CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CUIJU. Cuiju is a province towards the East.{1} After leaving Coloman you travel along a river for 12 days, meeting with a good number of towns and villages, but nothing worthy of particular mention. After you have travelled those twelve days along the river you come to a great and noble city which is called FUNGUL. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan, and live by trade and handicrafts. You must know they manufacture stuffs of the bark of certain trees which form very fine summer clothing.{2} They are good soldiers, and have paper-money. For you must understand that henceforward we are in the countries where the Great Kaan’s paper-money is current. [Illustration: The Koloman, after a Chinese drawing. “=Coloman est une provence vers levant.... Il sunt mult belles jens et ne sunt mie bien blances mès brunz. Il sunt bien homes d’armes ...=”] The country swarms with lions to that degree that no man can venture to sleep outside his house at night.{3} Moreover, when you travel on that river, and come to a halt at night, unless you keep a good way from the bank the lions will spring on the boat and snatch one of the crew and make off with him and devour him. And but for a certain help that the inhabitants enjoy, no one could venture to travel in that province, because of the multitude of those lions, and because of their strength and ferocity. But you see they have in this province a large breed of dogs, so fierce and bold that two of them together will attack a lion.{4} So every man who goes a journey takes with him a couple of those dogs, and when a lion appears they have at him with the greatest boldness, and the lion turns on them, but can’t touch them for they are very deft at eschewing his blows. So they follow him, perpetually giving tongue, and watching their chance to give him a bite in the rump or in the thigh, or wherever they may. The lion makes no reprisal except now and then to turn fiercely on them, and then indeed were he to catch the dogs it would be all over with them, but they take good care that he shall not. So, to escape the dogs’ din, the lion makes off, and gets into the wood, where mayhap he stands at bay against a tree to have his rear protected from their annoyance. And when the travellers see the lion in this plight they take to their bows, for they are capital archers, and shoot their arrows at him till he falls dead. And ’tis thus that travellers in those parts do deliver themselves from those lions. They have a good deal of silk and other products which are carried up and down, by the river of which we spoke, into various quarters.{5} You travel along the river for twelve days more, finding a good many towns all along, and the people always Idolaters, and subject to the Great Kaan, with paper-money current, and living by trade and handicrafts. There are also plenty of fighting men. And after travelling those twelve days you arrive at the city of Sindafu of which we spoke in this book some time ago.{6} From Sindafu you set out again and travel some 70 days through the provinces and cities and towns which we have already visited, and all which have been already particularly spoken of in our Book. At the end of those 70 days you come to Juju where we were before.{7} From Juju you set out again and travel four days towards the south, finding many towns and villages. The people are great traders and craftsmen, are all Idolaters, and use the paper-money of the Great Kaan their Sovereign. At the end of those four days you come to the city of Cacanfu belonging to the province of Cathay, and of it I shall now speak. NOTE 1.—In spite of difficulties which beset the subject (see Note 6 below) the view of Pauthier, suggested doubtingly by Marsden, that the Cuiju of the text is KWEI-CHAU, seems the most probable one. As the latter observes, the reappearance of paper money shows that we have got back into a province of China Proper. Such, Yun-nan, recently conquered from a Shan prince, could not be considered. But, according to the best view we can form, the traveller could only have passed through the extreme west of the province of Kwei-chau. The name of _Fungul_, if that be a true reading, is suggestive of _Phungan_, which under the Mongols was the head of a district called PHUNGAN-LU. It was founded by that dynasty, and was regarded as an important position for the command of the three provinces Kwei-chau, Kwang-si, and Yun-nan. (_Biot_, p. 168; _Martini_, p. 137.) But we shall explain presently the serious difficulties that beset the interpretation of the itinerary as it stands. NOTE 2.—Several Chinese plants afford a fibre from the bark, and some of these are manufactured into what we call _grass-cloths_. The light smooth textures so called are termed by the Chinese _Hiapu_ or “summer cloths.” Kwei-chau produces such. But perhaps that specially intended is a species of hemp (_Urtica Nivea?_) of which M. Perny of the R. C. Missions says, in his notes on Kwei-chau: “It affords a texture which may be compared to _batiste_. This has the notable property of keeping so cool that many people cannot wear it even in the hot weather. Generally it is used only for summer clothing.” (_Dict. des Tissus_, VII. 404; _Chin. Repos._ XVIII. 217 and 529; _Ann. de la Prop. de la Foi_, XXXI. 137.) NOTE 3.—Tigers of course are meant. (See _supra_, vol. i. p. 399.) M. Perny speaks of tigers in the mountainous parts of Kwei-chau. (_Op. cit._ 139.) NOTE 4.—These great dogs were noticed by Lieutenant (now General) Macleod, in his journey to Kiang Hung on the great River Mekong, as accompanying the caravans of Chinese traders on their way to the Siamese territory. (See _Macleod’s Journal_, p. 66.) NOTE 5.—The trade in wild silk (_i.e._ from the oak-leaf silkworm) is in truth an important branch of commerce in Kwei-chau. But the chief seat of this is at Tsuni-fu, and I do not think that Polo’s route can be sought so far to the eastward. (_Ann. de la Prop._ XXXI. 136; _Richthofen_, Letter VII. 81.) NOTE 6.—We have now got back to Sindafu, _i.e._ Ch’êng-tu fu in Sze-ch’wan, and are better able to review the geography of the track we have been following. I do not find it possible to solve all its difficulties. The different provinces treated of in the chapters from lv. to lix. are strung by Marco upon an easterly, or, as we must interpret, _north-easterly_ line of travel, real or hypothetical. Their names and intervals are as follows: (1) Bangala; whence 30 marches to (2) Caugigu; 25 marches to (3) Anin; 8 marches to (4) Toloman or Coloman; 12 days in Cuiju along a river to the city of (5) Fungul, Sinugul (or what not); 12 days further, on or along the same river, to (6) Ch’êng-tu fu. Total from Bangala to Ch’êng-tu fu 87 days. I have said that the line of travel is real _or hypothetical_, for no doubt a large part of it was only founded on hearsay. We last left our traveller at Mien, or on the frontier of Yun-nan and Mien. _Bangala_ is reached _per saltum_ with no indication of interval, and its position is entirely misapprehended. Marco conceives of it, not as in India, but as being, like Mien, a province _on the confines_ of India, as being under the same king as Mien, as lying to the south of that kingdom, and as being at the (south) western extremity of a great traverse line which runs (north) east into Kwei-chau and Sze-ch’wan. All these conditions point consistently to one locality; that, however, is not Bengal but _Pegu_. On the other hand, the circumstances of manners and products, so far as they go, _do_ belong to Bengal. I conceive that Polo’s information regarding these was derived from persons who had really visited Bengal by sea, but that he had confounded what he so heard of the Delta of the Ganges with what he heard on the Yun-nan frontier of the Delta of the Irawadi. It is just the same kind of error that is made about those great Eastern Rivers by Fra Mauro in his Map. And possibly the name of Pegu (in Burmese _Bagóh_) may have contributed to his error, as well as the probable fact that the Kings of Burma did at this time _claim_ to be Kings of Bengal, whilst they actually _were_ Kings of Pegu. _Caugigu_.—We have seen reason to agree with M. Pauthier that the description of this region points to Laos, though we cannot with him assign it to Kiang-mai. Even if it be identical with the Papesifu of the Chinese, we have seen that the centre of that state may be placed at Muang Yong not far from the Mekong; whilst I believe that the limits of Caugigu must be drawn much nearer the Chinese and Tungking territory, so as to embrace Kiang Hung, and probably the _Papien_ River. (See note at p. 117.) As regards the name, it is _possible_ that it may represent some specific name of the Upper Laos territory. But I am inclined to believe that we are dealing with a case of erroneous geographical perspective like that of Bangala; and that whilst the _circumstances_ belong to Upper Laos, the _name_, read as I read it, _Caugigu_ (or Cavgigu), is no other than the _Ḳafchikúe_ of Rashiduddin, the name applied by him to Tungking, and representing the KIAOCHI-KWÊ of the Chinese. D’Anville’s Atlas brings Kiaochi up to the Mekong in immediate contact with Che-li or Kiang Hung. I had come to the conclusion that Caugigu was _probably_ the correct reading before I was aware that it is an _actual_ reading of the Geog. Text more than once, of Pauthier’s A more than once, of Pauthier’s C _at least_ once and possibly twice, and of the Bern MS.; all which I have ascertained from personal examination of those manuscripts.[1] _Anin_ or _Aniu_.—I have already pointed out that I seek this in the territory about Lin-ngan and Homi. In relation to this M. Garnier writes: “In starting from Muang Yong, or even if you prefer it, from Xieng Hung (Kiang Hung of our maps), ... it would be physically impossible in 25 days to get beyond the arc which I have laid down on your map (viz. extending a few miles north-east of Homi). There are scarcely any roads in those mountains, and easy lines of communication begin only _after_ you have got to the Lin-ngan territory. In Marco Polo’s days things were certainly not better, but the reverse. All that has been done of consequence in the way of roads, posts, and organisation in the part of Yun-nan between Lin-ngan and Xieng Hung, dates in some degree from the Yuen, but in a far greater degree from K’ang-hi.” Hence, even with the Ramusian reading of the itinerary, we cannot place _Anin_ much beyond the position indicated already. [Illustration: Script _thaï_ of Xieng-hung.] _Koloman_.—We have seen that the position of this region is probably near the western frontier of Kwei-chau. Adhering to _Homi_ as the representative of Anin, and to the 8 days’ journey of the text, the most probable position of Koloman would be about _Lo-ping_, which lies about 100 English miles in a straight line north-east from Homi. The first character of the name here is again the same as the _Lo_ of the Kolo tribes. Beyond this point the difficulties of devising an interpretation, consistent at once with facts and with the text as it stands, become insuperable. The narrative demands that from Koloman we should reach _Fungul_, a great and noble city, by travelling 12 days along a river, and that Fungul should be within twelve days’ journey of Ch’êng-tu fu, along the same river, or at least along rivers connected with it. In advancing from the south-west guided by the data afforded by the texts, we have not been able to carry the position of Fungul (_Sinugul_, or what not of G. T. and other MSS.) further north than Phungan. But it is impossible that Ch’êng-tu fu should have been reached in 12 days from this point. Nor is it possible that a new post in a secluded position, like Phungan, could have merited to be described as “a great and noble city.” Baron v. Richthofen has favoured me with a note in which he shows that in reality the only place answering the more essential conditions of Fungul is Siu-chau fu at the union of the two great branches of the Yang-tzŭ, viz. the Kin-sha Kiang, and the Min-Kiang from Ch’êng-tu fu. (1) The distance from Siu-chau to Ch’êng-tu by land travelling is just about 12 days, and the road is along a river. (2) In approaching “Fungul” from the south Polo met with a good many towns and villages. This would be the case along either of the navigable rivers that join the Yang-tzŭ below Siu-chau (or along that which joins above Siu-chau, mentioned further on). (3) The large trade in silk up and down the river is a characteristic that could only apply to the Yang-tzŭ. These reasons are very strong, though some little doubt must subsist until we can explain the name (Fungul, or Sinugul) as applicable to Siu-chau.[2] And assuming Siu-chau to be the city we must needs carry the position of _Coloman_ considerably further north than Lo-ping, and must presume the interval between _Anin_ and _Coloman_ to be greatly understated, through clerical or other error. With these assumptions we should place Polo’s Coloman in the vicinity of Wei-ning, one of the localities of Kolo tribes. From a position near Wei-ning it would be quite possible to reach Siu-chau in 12 days, making use of the facilities afforded by one or other of the partially navigable rivers to which allusion has just been made. [Illustration: Iron Suspension Bridge at Lowatong. (From Garnier.)] “That one,” says M. Garnier in a letter, “which enters the Kiang a little above Siu-chau fu, the River of _Lowa-tong_, which was descended by our party, has a branch to the eastward which is navigable up to about the latitude of Chao-tong. Is not this probably Marco Polo’s route? It is to this day a line much frequented, and one on which great works have been executed; among others two iron suspension bridges, works truly gigantic for the country in which we find them.” An extract from a Chinese Itinerary of this route, which M. Garnier has since communicated to me, shows that at a point 4 days from Wei-ning the traveller may embark and continue his voyage to any point on the great Kiang. We are obliged, indeed, to give up the attempt to keep to a line of communicating rivers throughout the whole 24 days. Nor do I see how it is possible to adhere to that condition literally without taking more material liberties with the text. [Illustration: MARCO POLO’S ITINERARIES Nᵒ. V. Indo Chinese Regions (Book II, Chapˢ. 44–59)] My theory of Polo’s actual journey would be that he returned from Yun-nan fu to Ch’êng-tu fu through some part of the province of Kwei-chau, perhaps only its western extremity, but that he spoke of Caugigu, and probably of Anin, as he did of Bangala, from report only. And, in recapitulation, I would identify provisionally the localities spoken of in this difficult itinerary as follows: _Caugigu_ with Kiang Hung; _Anin_ with Homi; _Coloman_ with the country about Wei-ning in Western Kwei-chau; _Fungul_ or Sinugul with Siu-chau. [This itinerary is difficult, as Sir Henry Yule says. It takes Marco Polo 24 days to go from Coloman or Toloman to Ch’êng-tu. The land route is 22 days from Yun-nan fu to Swi-fu, _viâ_ Tung-ch’wan and Chao-t’ung. (_J. China B. R. A. S._ XXVIII. 74–75.) From the Toloman province, which I place about Lin-ngan and Cheng-kiang, south of Yun-nan fu, Polo must have passed a second time through this city, which is indeed at the end of all the routes of this part of South-Western China. He might go back to Sze-ch’wan by the western route, _viâ_ Tung-ch’wan and Chao-t’ung to Swi-fu, or, by the eastern, easier and shorter route by Siuen-wei chau, crossing a corner of the Kwei-chau province (Wei-ning), and passing by Yun-ning hien to the Kiang; this is the route followed by Mr. A. Hosie in 1883 and by Mr. F. S. A. Bourne in 1885, and with great likelihood by Marco Polo; he may have taken the Yun-ning River to the district city of Na-ch’i hien, which lies on the right bank both of this river and of the Kiang; the Kiang up to Swi-fu and thence to Ch’êng-tu. I do not attempt to explain the difficulty about Fungul. I fully agree with Sir H. Yule when he says that Polo spoke of Caugigu and of Bangala, probably of Anin, from report only. However, I believe that Caugigu is the _Kiao-Chi kwé_ of the Chinese, that Ani_n_ must be read Ani_u_, that Aniu is but a transcription of _Nan-yué_, that both Nan-yué and Kiao-Chi represent Northern Annam, _i.e._ the portion of Annam which we call Tung-king. Regarding the tattooed inhabitants of Caugigu, let it be remembered that tattooing existed in Annam till it was prohibited by the Chinese during the occupation of Tung-king at the beginning of the 15th century.—H. C.] NOTE 7.—Here the traveller gets back to the road-bifurcation near Juju, _i.e._ Chochau (_ante_ p. 11), and thence commences to travel southward. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] A passing suggestion of the identity of Kafchi Kué and Caugigu is made by D’Ohsson, and I formerly objected. (See _Cathay_, p. 272.) [2] Cuiju might be read _Ciuju_—representing _Siuchau_, but the difficulty about Fungul would remain. [Illustration: Fortified Villages on Western frontier of Kweichau. (From Garnier.) “=Chastiaus ont-il grant quantité en grandismes montagnes et fortres.=”] BOOK II.—_Continued_. PART III.—JOURNEY SOUTHWARD THROUGH EASTERN PROVINCES OF CATHAY AND MANZI. CHAPTER LX. CONCERNING THE CITIES OF CACANFU AND OF CHANGLU. Cacanfu is a noble city. The people are Idolaters and burn their dead; they have paper-money, and live by trade and handicrafts. For they have plenty of silk from which they weave stuffs of silk and gold, and sendals in large quantities. [There are also certain Christians at this place, who have a church.] And the city is at the head of an important territory containing numerous towns and villages. [A great river passes through it, on which much merchandise is carried to the city of Cambaluc, for by many channels and canals it is connected therewith.{1}] We will now set forth again, and travel three days towards the south, and then we come to a town called CHANGLU. This is another great city belonging to the Great Kaan, and to the province of Cathay. The people have paper-money, and are Idolaters and burn their dead. And you must know they make salt in great quantities at this place; I will tell you how ’tis done.{2} A kind of earth is found there which is exceedingly salt. This they dig up and pile in great heaps. Upon these heaps they pour water in quantities till it runs out at the bottom; and then they take up this water and boil it well in great iron cauldrons, and as it cools it deposits a fine white salt in very small grains. This salt they then carry about for sale to many neighbouring districts, and get great profit thereby. There is nothing else worth mentioning, so let us go forward five days’ journey, and we shall come to a city called Chinangli. NOTE 1.—In the greater part of the journey which occupies the remainder of Book II., Pauthier is a chief authority, owing to his industrious Chinese reading and citation. Most of his identifications seem well founded, though sometimes we shall be constrained to dissent from them widely. A considerable number have been anticipated by former editors, but even in such cases he is often able to bring forward new grounds. CACANFU is HO-KIEN FU in Pe Chih-li, 52 miles in a direct line south by east of Chochau. It was the head of one of the _Lu_ or circuits into which the Mongols divided China. (_Pauthier_.) NOTE 2.—Marsden and Murray have identified Changlu with T’SANG-CHAU in Pe Chih-li, about 30 miles east by south of Ho-kien fu. This seems substantially right, but Pauthier shows that there was an old town actually called CH’ANGLU, separated from T’sang-chau only by the great canal. [Ch’ang-lu was the name of T’sang-chau under the T’ang and the Kin. (See _Playfair, Dict._, p. 34.)—H. C.] The manner of obtaining salt, described in the text, is substantially the same as one described by Duhalde, and by one of the missionaries, as being employed near the mouth of the Yang-tzŭ kiang. There is a town of the third order some miles south-east of T’sang-chau, called _Yen-shan_ or “salt-hill,” and, according to Pauthier, T’sang-chau is the mart for salt produced there. (_Duhalde_ in _Astley_, IV. 310; _Lettres Edif._ XI. 267 _seqq._; _Biot._ p. 283.) Polo here introduces a remark about the practice of burning the dead, which, with the notice of the idolatry of the people, and their use of paper-money, constitutes a formula which he repeats all through the Chinese provinces with wearisome iteration. It is, in fact, his definition of the Chinese people, for whom he seems to lack a comprehensive name. A great change seems to have come over Chinese custom, since the Middle Ages, in regard to the disposal of the dead. Cremation is now entirely disused, except in two cases; one, that of the obsequies of a Buddhist priest, and the other that in which the coffin instead of being buried has been exposed in the fields, and in the lapse of time has become decayed. But it is impossible to reject the evidence that it was a common practice in Polo’s age. He repeats the assertion that it was _the_ custom at every stage of his journey through Eastern China; though perhaps his taking absolutely no notice of the practice of burial is an instance of that imperfect knowledge of strictly Chinese peculiarities which has been elsewhere ascribed to him. It is the case, however, that the author of the Book of the Estate of the Great Kaan (_circa_ 1330) also speaks of cremation as the usual Chinese practice, and that Ibn Batuta says positively: “The Chinese are infidels and idolaters, and they burn their dead after the manner of the Hindus.” This is all the more curious, because the Arab _Relations_ of the 9th century say distinctly that the Chinese bury their dead, though they often kept the body long (as they do still) before burial; and there is no mistaking the description which Conti (15th century) gives of the Chinese mode of sepulture. Mendoza, in the 16th century, alludes to no disposal of the dead except by burial, but Semedo in the early part of the 17th says that bodies were occasionally burnt, especially in Sze-ch’wan. I am greatly indebted to the kindness of an eminent Chinese scholar, Mr. W. F. Mayers, of Her Majesty’s Legation at Peking, who, in a letter, dated Peking, 18th September, 1874, sends me the following memorandum on the subject:— “_Colonel Yule’s Marco Polo_, II. 97 [First Edition], _Burning of the Dead_. “On this subject compare the article entitled _Huo Tsang_, or ‘Cremation Burials,’ in Bk. XV of the _Jih Che Luh_, or ‘Daily Jottings,’ a great collection of miscellaneous notes on classical, historical, and antiquarian subjects, by Ku Yen-wu, a celebrated author of the 17th century. The article is as follows:— “‘The practice of burning the dead flourished (or flourishes) most extensively in Kiang-nan, and was in vogue already in the period of the Sung Dynasty. According to the history of the Sung Dynasty, in the 27th year of the reign Shao-hing (A.D. 1157), the practice was animadverted upon by a public official.’ Here follows a long extract, in which the burning of the dead is reprehended, and it is stated that cemeteries were set apart by Government on behalf of the poorer classes. “In A.D. 1261, Hwang Chên, governor of the district of Wu, in a memorial praying that the erection of cremation furnaces might thenceforth be prohibited, dwelt upon the impropriety of burning the remains of the deceased, for whose obsequies a multitude of observances were prescribed by the religious rites. He further exposed the fallacy of the excuse alleged for the practice, to wit, that burning the dead was a fulfilment of the precepts of Buddha, and accused the priests of a certain monastery of converting into a source of illicit gain the practice of cremation.” [As an illustration of the cremation of a Buddhist priest, I note the following passage from an article published in the _North-China Herald_, 20th May, 1887, p. 556, on Kwei Hua Ch’eng, Mongolia: “Several Lamas are on visiting terms with me and they are very friendly. There are seven large and eight small Lamaseries, in care of from ten to two hundred Lamas. The principal Lamas at death are cremated. A short time ago, a friendly Lama took me to see a cremation. The furnace was roughly made of mud bricks, with four fire-holes at the base, with an opening in which to place the body. The whole was about 6 feet high, and about 5 feet in circumference. Greased fuel was arranged within and covered with glazed foreign calico, on which were written some Tibetan characters. A tent was erected and mats arranged for the Lamas. About 11.30 A.M. a scarlet covered bier appeared in sight carried by thirty-two beggars. A box 2 feet square and 2½ feet high was taken out and placed near the furnace. The Lamas arrived and attired themselves in gorgeous robes and sat cross-legged. During the preparations to chant, some butter was being melted in a corner of the tent. A screen of calico was drawn round the furnace in which the cremator placed the body, and filled up the opening. Then a dozen Lamas began chanting the burial litany in Tibetan in deep bass voices. Then the head priest blessed the torches and when the fires were lit he blessed a fan to fan the flames, and lastly some melted butter, which was poured in at the top to make the whole blaze. This was frequently repeated. When fairly ablaze, a few pieces of Tibetan grass were thrown in at the top. After three days the whole cooled, and a priest with one gold and one silver chopstick collects the bones, which are placed in a bag for burial. If the bones are white it is a sign that his sin is purged, if black that perfection has not been attained.”—H. C.] And it is very worthy of note that the Chinese envoy to Chinla (Kamboja) in 1295, an individual who may have personally known Marco Polo, in speaking of the custom prevalent there of exposing the dead, adds: “There are some, however, who burn their dead. _These are all descendants of Chinese immigrants._” [Professor J. J. M. de Groot remarks that “being of religious origin, cremation is mostly denoted in China by clerical terms, expressive of the metamorphosis the funeral pyre is intended to effect, viz. ‘transformation of man’; ‘transformation of the body’; ‘metamorphosis by fire.’ Without the clerical sphere it bears no such high-sounding names, being simply called ‘incineration of corpses.’ A term of illogical composition, and nevertheless very common in the books, is ‘fire burial.’” It appears that during the Sung Dynasty cremation was especially common in the provinces of Shan-si, Cheh-kiang, and Kiang-su. During the Mongol Dynasty, the instances of cremation which are mentioned in Chinese books are, relatively speaking, numerous. Professor de Groot says also that “there exists evidence that during the Mongol domination cremation also throve in Fuhkien.” (_Religious System of China_, vol. iii. pp. 1391, 1409, 1410.)—H. C.] (_Doolittle_, 190; _Deguignes_, I. 69; _Cathay_, pp. 247, 479; _Reinaud_, I. 56; _India in the XVth Century_, p. 23; _Semedo_, p. 95; _Rém. Mél. Asiat._ I. 128.) CHAPTER LXI. CONCERNING THE CITY OF CHINANGLI, AND THAT OF TADINFU, AND THE REBELLION OF LITAN. Chinangli is a city of Cathay as you go south, and it belongs to the Great Kaan; the people are Idolaters, and have paper-money. There runs through the city a great and wide river, on which a large traffic in silk goods and spices and other costly merchandize passes up and down. When you travel south from Chinangli for five days, you meet everywhere with fine towns and villages, the people of which are all Idolaters, and burn their dead, and are subject to the Great Kaan, and have paper-money, and live by trade and handicrafts, and have all the necessaries of life in great abundance. But there is nothing particular to mention on the way till you come, at the end of those five days, to TADINFU.{1} This, you must know, is a very great city, and in old times was the seat of a great kingdom; but the Great Kaan conquered it by force of arms. Nevertheless it is still the noblest city in all those provinces. There are very great merchants here, who trade on a great scale, and the abundance of silk is something marvellous. They have, moreover, most charming gardens abounding with fruit of large size. The city of Tadinfu hath also under its rule eleven imperial cities of great importance, all of which enjoy a large and profitable trade, owing to that immense produce of silk.{2} Now, you must know, that in the year of Christ, 1273, the Great Kaan had sent a certain Baron called LIYTAN SANGON,{3} with some 80,000 horse, to this province and city, to garrison them. And after the said captain had tarried there a while, he formed a disloyal and traitorous plot, and stirred up the great men of the province to rebel against the Great Kaan. And so they did; for they broke into revolt against their sovereign lord, and refused all obedience to him, and made this Liytan, whom their sovereign had sent thither for their protection, to be the chief of their revolt. When the Great Kaan heard thereof he straightway despatched two of his Barons, one of whom was called AGUIL and the other MONGOTAY;{4} giving them 100,000 horse and a great force of infantry. But the affair was a serious one, for the Barons were met by the rebel Liytan with all those whom he had collected from the province, mustering more than 100,000 horse and a large force of foot. Nevertheless in the battle Liytan and his party were utterly routed, and the two Barons whom the Emperor had sent won the victory. When the news came to the Great Kaan he was right well pleased, and ordered that all the chiefs who had rebelled, or excited others to rebel, should be put to a cruel death, but that those of lower rank should receive a pardon. And so it was done. The two Barons had all the leaders of the enterprise put to a cruel death, and all those of lower rank were pardoned. And thenceforward they conducted themselves with loyalty towards their lord.{5} Now having told you all about this affair, let us have done with it, and I will tell you of another place that you come to in going south, which is called SINJU-MATU. NOTE 1.—There seems to be no solution to the difficulties attaching to the account of these two cities (Chinangli and Tadinfu) except that the two have been confounded, either by a lapse of memory on the traveller’s part or by a misunderstanding on that of Rusticiano. The position and name of CHINANGLI point, as Pauthier has shown, to T’SI-NAN FU, the chief city of Shan-tung. The second city is called in the G. Text and Pauthier’s MSS. _Candinfu_, _Condinfu_, and _Cundinfu_, names which it has not been found possible to elucidate. But adopting the reading _Tadinfu_ of some of the old printed editions (supported by the _Tudinfu_ of Ramusio and the _Tandifu_ of the Riccardian MS.), Pauthier shows that the city now called _Yen-chau_ bore under the Kin the name of TAI-TING FU, which may fairly thus be recognised. [Under the Sung Dynasty Yen-chau was named T’ai-ning and Lung-k’ing. (_Playfair’s Dict._ p. 388.)—H. C.] It was not, however, Yen-chau, but _T’si-nan fu_, which was “the noblest city in all those provinces,” and had been “in old times the seat of a kingdom,” as well as recently the scene of the episode of Litan’s rebellion. T’si-nan fu lies in a direct line 86 miles south of T’sang-chau (_Changlu_), near the banks of the Ta-t’sing ho, a large river which communicates with the great canal near T’si-ning chau, and which was, no doubt, of greater importance in Polo’s time than in the last six centuries. For up nearly to the origin of the Mongol power it appears to have been one of the main discharges of the Hwang-Ho. The recent changes in that river have again brought its main stream into the same channel, and the “New Yellow River” passes three or four miles to the north of the city. T’si-nan fu has frequently of late been visited by European travellers, who report it as still a place of importance, with much life and bustle, numerous book-shops, several fine temples, two mosques, and all the furniture of a provincial capital. It has also a Roman Catholic Cathedral of Gothic architecture. (_Williamson_, I. 102.) [Tsi-nan “is a populous and rich city; and by means of the river (Ta Tsing ho, Great Clear River) carries on an extensive commerce. The soil is fertile, and produces grain and fruits in abundance. Silk of an excellent quality is manufactured, and commands a high price. The lakes and rivers are well stored with fish.” (_Chin. Rep._ XI. p. 562.)—H. C.] NOTE 2.—The Chinese Annals, more than 2000 years B.C., speak of silk as an article of tribute from Shan-tung; and evidently it was one of the provinces most noted in the Middle Ages for that article. Compare the quotation in note on next chapter from Friar Odoric. Yet the older modern accounts speak only of the _wild_ silk of Shan-tung. Mr. Williamson, however, points out that there is an extensive produce from the genuine mulberry silkworm, and anticipates a very important trade in Shan-tung silk. Silk fabrics are also largely produced, and some of extraordinary quality. (_Williamson_, I. 112, 131.) The expressions of Padre Martini, in speaking of the wild silk of Shan-tung, strongly remind one of the talk of the ancients about the origin of silk, and suggest the possibility that this may not have been mere groundless fancy: “Non in globum aut ovum ductum, sed in longissimum filum paulatim ex ore emissum, albi coloris, quæ arbustis dumisque, adhærentia, atque a vento huc illucque agitata colliguntur,” etc. Compare this with Pliny’s “Seres lanitia silvarum nobiles, perfusam aqua depectentes frondium caniciem,” or Claudian’s “Stamine, quod molli tondent de stipite Seres, Frondea lanigeræ carpentes vellera silvæ; Et longum tenues tractus producit in aurum.” NOTE 3.—The title _Sangon_ is, as Pauthier points out, the Chinese _Tsiang-kiun_, a “general of division,” [or better “Military Governor”.—H. C.] John Bell calls an officer, bearing the same title, “Merin _Sanguin_.” I suspect _T’siang-kiun_ is the _Jang-Jang_ of Baber. NOTE 4.—AGUL was the name of a distant cousin of Kúblái, who was the father of Nayan (_supra_, ch. ii. and Genealogy of the House of Chinghiz in Appendix A). MANGKUTAI, under Kúblái, held the command of the third Hazara (Thousand) of the right wing, in which he had succeeded his father Jedi Noyan. He was greatly distinguished in the invasion of South China under Bayan. (_Erdmann’s Temudschin_, pp. 220, 455; _Gaubil_, p. 160.) NOTE 5.—LITAN, a Chinese of high military position and reputation under the Mongols, in the early part of Kúblái’s reign, commanded the troops in Shan-tung and the conquered parts of Kiang-nan. In the beginning of 1262 he carried out a design that he had entertained since Kúblái’s accession, declared for the Sung Emperor, to whom he gave up several important places, put detached Mongol garrisons to the sword, and fortified T’si-nan and T’sing-chau. Kúblái despatched Prince Apiché and the General Ssetienché against him. Litan, after some partial success, was beaten and driven into T’si-nan, which the Mongols immediately invested. After a blockade of four months, the garrison was reduced to extremities. Litan, in despair, put his women to death and threw himself into a lake adjoining the city; but he was taken out alive and executed. T’sing-chau then surrendered. (_Gaubil_, 139–140; _De Mailla_, IX. 298 _seqq._; _D’Ohsson_, II. 381.) Pauthier gives greater detail from the Chinese Annals, which confirm the amnesty granted to all but the chiefs of the rebellion. The date in the text is wrong or corrupt, as is generally the case. CHAPTER LXII. CONCERNING THE NOBLE CITY OF SINJUMATU. On leaving Tadinfu you travel three days towards the south, always finding numbers of noble and populous towns and villages flourishing with trade and manufactures. There is also abundance of game in the country, and everything in profusion. When you have travelled those three days you come to the noble city of SINJUMATU, a rich and fine place, with great trade and manufactures. The people are Idolaters and subjects of the Great Kaan, and have paper-money, and they have a river which I can assure you brings them great gain, and I will tell you about it. You see the river in question flows from the South to this city of Sinjumatu. And the people of the city have divided this larger river in two, making one half of it flow east and the other half flow west; that is to say, the one branch flows towards Manzi and the other towards Cathay. And it is a fact that the number of vessels at this city is what no one would believe without seeing them. The quantity of merchandize also which these vessels transport to Manzi and Cathay is something marvellous; and then they return loaded with other merchandize, so that the amount of goods borne to and fro on those two rivers is quite astonishing.{1} NOTE 1.—Friar Odoric, proceeding by water northward to Cambaluc about 1324–1325, says: “As I travelled by that river towards the east, and passed many towns and cities, I came to a certain city which is called SUNZUMATU, which hath a greater plenty of silk than perhaps any place on earth, for when silk is at the dearest you can still have 40 lbs. for less than eight groats. There is in the place likewise great store of merchandise,” etc. When commenting on Odoric, I was inclined to identify this city with Lin-t’sing chau, but its position with respect to the two last cities in Polo’s itinerary renders this inadmissible; and Murray and Pauthier seem to be right in identifying it with T’SI-NING CHAU. The affix _Matu_ (_Ma-t’eu_, a jetty, a place of river trade) might easily attach itself to the name of such a great depôt of commerce on the canal as Marco here describes, though no Chinese authority has been produced for its being so styled. The only objection to the identification with T’si-ning chau is the difficulty of making 3 days’ journey of the short distance between Yen-chau and that city. Polo, according to the route supposed, comes first upon the artificial part of the Great Canal here. The rivers _Wen_ and _Sse_ (from near Yen-chau) flowing from the side of Shan-tung, and striking the canal line at right angles near T’si-ning chau, have been thence diverted north-west and south-east, so as to form the canal; the point of their original confluence at Nan-wang forming, apparently, the summit level of the canal. There is a little confusion in Polo’s account, owing to his describing the river as coming from the _south_, which, according to his orientation, would be the side towards Honan. In this respect his words would apply more accurately to the _Wei_ River at Lin-t’sing (see _Biot_ in _J. As._ sér. III. tom. xiv. 194, and _J. N. C. B. R. A. S._, 1866, p. 11; also the map with ch. lxiv.) [Father Gandar (_Canal Impérial_, p. 22, note) says that the remark of Marco Polo: “The river flows from the south to this city of Sinjumatu,” cannot be applied to the _Wen-ho_ nor to the _Sse-ho_, which are rivers of little importance and running from the east, whilst the _Wei-ho_, coming from the south-east, waters Lin-ts’ing, and answers well to our traveller’s text.—H. C.] Duhalde calls T’si-ning chau “one of the most considerable cities of the empire”; and Nieuhoff speaks of its large trade and population. [Sir John F. Davis writes that Tsi-ning chau is a town of considerable dimensions.... “The _ma-tow_, or platforms, before the principal boats had ornamental gateways over them.... The canal seems to render this an opulent and flourishing place, to judge by the gilded and carved shops, temples, and public offices, along the eastern banks.” (_Sketches of China_, I. pp. 255–257.)—H. C.] CHAPTER LXIII. CONCERNING THE CITIES OF LINJU AND PIJU. On leaving the city of Sinju-matu you travel for eight days towards the south, always coming to great and rich towns and villages flourishing with trade and manufactures. The people are all subjects of the Great Kaan, use paper-money, and burn their dead. At the end of those eight days you come to the city of LINJU, in the province of the same name of which it is the capital. It is a rich and noble city, and the men are good soldiers, natheless they carry on great trade and manufactures. There is great abundance of game in both beasts and birds, and all the necessaries of life are in profusion. The place stands on the river of which I told you above. And they have here great numbers of vessels, even greater than those of which I spoke before, and these transport a great amount of costly merchandize{1}. So, quitting this province and city of Linju, you travel three days more towards the south, constantly finding numbers of rich towns and villages. These still belong to Cathay; and the people are all Idolaters, burning their dead, and using paper-money, that I mean of their Lord the Great Kaan, whose subjects they are. This is the finest country for game, whether in beasts or birds, that is anywhere to be found, and all the necessaries of life are in profusion. At the end of those three days you find the city of PIJU, a great, rich, and noble city, with large trade and manufactures, and a great production of silk. This city stands at the entrance to the great province of Manzi, and there reside at it a great number of merchants who despatch carts from this place loaded with great quantities of goods to the different towns of Manzi. The city brings in a great revenue to the Great Kaan.{2} NOTE 1.—Murray suggests that Lingiu is a place which appears in D’Anville’s Map of Shan-tung as _Lintching-y_, and in Arrowsmith’s Map of China (also in those of Berghaus and Keith Johnston) as _Lingchinghien_. The position assigned to it, however, on the west bank of the canal, nearly under the 35th degree of latitude, would agree fairly with Polo’s data. [_Lin-ch’ing, Lin-tsing_, lat. 37° 03′, _Playfair’s Dict._ No. 4276; _Biot_, p. 107.—H. C.] In any case, I imagine Lingiu (of which, perhaps, _Lingin_ may be the correct reading) to be the _Lenzin_ of Odoric, which he reached in travelling by water from the south, before arriving at Sinjumatu. (_Cathay_, p. 125.) NOTE 2.—There can be no doubt that this is PEI-CHAU on the east bank of the canal. The abundance of game about here is noticed by Nieuhoff (in _Astley_, III. 417). [See _D. Gandar, Canal Impérial_, 1894.—H. C.] CHAPTER LXIV. CONCERNING THE CITY OF SIJU, AND THE GREAT RIVER CARAMORAN. When you leave Piju you travel towards the south for two days, through beautiful districts abounding in everything, and in which you find quantities of all kinds of game. At the end of those two days you reach the city of SIJU, a great, rich, and noble city, flourishing with trade and manufactures. The people are Idolaters, burn their dead, use paper-money, and are subjects of the Great Kaan. They possess extensive and fertile plains producing abundance of wheat and other grain.{1} But there is nothing else to mention, so let us proceed and tell you of the countries further on. On leaving Siju you ride south for three days, constantly falling in with fine towns and villages and hamlets and farms, with their cultivated lands. There is plenty of wheat and other corn, and of game also; and the people are all Idolaters and subjects of the Great Kaan. At the end of those three days you reach the great river CARAMORAN, which flows hither from Prester John’s country. It is a great river, and more than a mile in width, and so deep that great ships can navigate it. It abounds in fish, and very big ones too. You must know that in this river there are some 15,000 vessels, all belonging to the Great Kaan, and kept to transport his troops to the Indian Isles whenever there may be occasion; for the sea is only one day distant from the place we are speaking of. And each of these vessels, taking one with another, will require 20 mariners, and will carry 15 horses with the men belonging to them, and their provisions, arms, and equipments.{2} Hither and thither, on either bank of the river, stands a town; the one facing the other. The one is called COIGANJU and the other CAIJU; the former is a large place, and the latter a little one. And when you pass this river you enter the great province of MANZI. So now I must tell you how this province of Manzi was conquered by the Great Kaan.{3} NOTE 1.—SIJU can scarcely be other than Su-t’sien (_Sootsin_ of Keith Johnston’s map) as Murray and Pauthier have said. The latter states that one of the old names of the place was _Si-chau_, which corresponds to that given by Marco. Biot does not give this name. The town stands on the flat alluvial of the Hwang-Ho, and is approached by high embanked roads. (_Astley_, III. 524–525.) [Sir J. F. Davis writes: “From _Sootsien Hien_ to the point of junction with the Yellow River, a length of about fifty miles, that great stream and the canal run nearly parallel with each other, at an average distance of four or five miles, and sometimes much nearer.” (_Sketches of China_, I. p. 265.)—H. C.] NOTE 2.—We have again arrived on the banks of the Hwang-Ho, which was crossed higher up on our traveller’s route to Karájang. No accounts, since China became known to modern Europe, attribute to the Hwang-Ho the great utility for navigation which Polo here and elsewhere ascribes to it. Indeed, we are told that its current is so rapid that its navigation is scarcely practicable, and the only traffic of the kind that we hear of is a transport of coal in Shan-si for a certain distance down stream. This rapidity also, bringing down vast quantities of soil, has so raised the bed that in recent times the tide has not entered the river, as it probably did in our traveller’s time, when, as it would appear from his account, seagoing craft used to ascend to the ferry north of Hwai-ngan fu, or thereabouts. Another indication of change is his statement that the passage just mentioned was only one day’s journey from the sea, whereas it is now about 50 miles in a direct line. But the river has of late years undergone changes much more material. [Illustration: Sketch Map, exhibiting the VARIATIONS of the TWO GREAT RIVERS OF CHINA Within the Period of History.] In the remotest times of which the Chinese have any record, the Hwang-Ho discharged its waters into the Gulf of Chih-li, by two branches, the most northerly of which appears to have followed the present course of the Pei-ho below Tien-tsing. In the time of the Shang Dynasty (ending B.C. 1078) a branch more southerly than either of the above flowed towards T’si-ning, and combined with the _T’si_ River, which flowed by T’si-nan fu, the same in fact that was till recently called the Ta-t’sing. In the time of Confucius we first hear of a branch being thrown off south-east towards the Hwai, flowing north of Hwai-ngan, in fact towards the embouchure which our maps still display as that of the Hwang-Ho. But, about the 3rd and 4th centuries of our era, the river discharged exclusively by the T’si; and up to the Mongol age, or nearly so, the mass of the waters of this great river continued to flow into the Gulf of Chih-li. They then changed their course bodily towards the Hwai, and followed that general direction to the sea; this they had adopted before the time of our traveller, and they retained it till a very recent period. The mass of Shan-tung thus forms a mountainous island rising out of the vast alluvium of the Hwang-Ho, whose discharge into the sea has alternated between the north and the south of that mountainous tract. (_See Map opposite_.) During the reign of the last Mongol emperor, a project was adopted for restoring the Hwang-Ho to its former channel, discharging into the Gulf of Chih-li; and discontents connected with this scheme promoted the movement for the expulsion of the dynasty (1368). A river whose regimen was liable to such vast changes was necessarily a constant source of danger, insomuch that the Emperor Kia-K’ing in his will speaks of it as having been “from the remotest ages China’s sorrow.” Some idea of the enormous works maintained for the control of the river may be obtained from the following description of their character on the north bank, some distance to the west of Kai-fung fu: “In a village, apparently bounded by an earthen wall as large as that of the Tartar city of Peking, was reached the first of the outworks erected to resist the Hwang-Ho, and on arriving at the top that river and the gigantic earthworks rendered necessary by its outbreaks burst on the view. On a level with the spot on which I was standing stretched a series of embankments, each one about 70 feet high, and of breadth sufficient for four railway trucks to run abreast on them. The mode of their arrangement was on this wise: one long bank ran parallel to the direction of the stream; half a mile distant from it ran a similar one; these two embankments were then connected by another series exactly similar in size, height, and breadth, and running at right angles to them right down to the edge of the water.” In 1851, the Hwang-Ho burst its northern embankment nearly 30 miles east of Kai-fung fu; the floods of the two following years enlarged the breach; and in 1853 the river, after six centuries, resumed the ancient direction of its discharge into the Gulf of Chih-li. Soon after leaving its late channel, it at present spreads, without defined banks, over the very low lands of South-Western Shan-tung, till it reaches the Great Canal, and then enters the Ta-t’sing channel, passing north of T’si-nan to the sea. The old channel crossed by Polo in the present journey is quite deserted. The greater part of the bed is there cultivated; it is dotted with numerous villages; and the vast trading town of Tsing-kiang pu was in 1868 extending so rapidly from the southern bank that a traveller in that year says he expected that in two years it would reach the northern bank. The same change has destroyed the Grand Canal as a navigable channel for many miles south of Lin-t’sing chau. (_J. R. G. S._ XXVIII. 294–295; _Escayrac de Lauture, Mém. sur la Chine; Cathay_, p. 125; _Reports of Journeys in China_, etc. [by Consuls Alabaster, Oxenham, etc., Parl. Blue Book], 1869, pp. 4–5, 14; _Mr. Elias_ in _J. R. G. S._ XL. p. 1 _seqq._) [Since the exploration of the Hwang-Ho in 1868 by Mr. Ney Elias and by Mr. H. G. Hollingworth, an inspection of this river was made in 1889 and a report published in 1891 by the Dutch Engineers J. G. W. Fijnje van Salverda, Captain P. G. van Schermbeek and A. Visser, for the improvement of the Yellow River.—H. C.] NOTE 3.—Coiganju will be noticed below. _Caiju_ does not seem to be traceable, having probably been carried away by the changes in the river. But it would seem to have been at the mouth of the canal on the north side of the Hwang-Ho, and the name is the same as that given below (ch. lxxii.) to the town (_Kwachau_) occupying the corresponding position on the Kiang. “Khatai,” says Rashiduddin, “is bounded on one side by the country of Máchín, which the Chinese call MANZI.... In the Indian language Southern China is called Mahá-chín, _i.e._ ‘Great China,’ and hence we derive the word _Machin_. The Mongols call the same country _Nangiass_. It is separated from Khatai by the river called KARAMORAN, which comes from the mountains of Tibet and Kashmir, and which is never fordable. The capital of this kingdom is the city of _Khingsai_, which is forty days’ journey from Khanbalik.” (_Quat. Rashid._, xci.–xciii.) MANZI (or Mangi) is a name used for Southern China, or more properly for the territory which constituted the dominion of the Sung Dynasty at the time when the Mongols conquered Cathay or Northern China from the Kin, not only by Marco, but by Odoric and John Marignolli, as well as by the Persian writers, who, however, more commonly call it _Máchín_. I imagine that some confusion between the two words led to the appropriation of the latter name, also to _Southern_ China. The term _Man-tzŭ_ or _Man-tze_ signifies “Barbarians” (“Sons of Barbarians”), and was applied, it is said, by the Northern Chinese to their neighbours on the south, whose civilisation was of later date.[1] The name is now specifically applied to a wild race on the banks of the Upper Kiang. But it retains its mediæval application in Manchuria, where _Mantszi_ is the name given to the Chinese immigrants, and in that use is said to date from the time of Kúblái. (_Palladius_ in _J. R. G. S._ vol. xlii. p. 154.) And Mr. Moule has found the word, apparently used in Marco’s exact sense, in a Chinese extract of the period, contained in the topography of the famous Lake of Hang-chau (_infra_, ch. lxxvi.–lxxvii.) Though both Polo and Rashiduddin call the Karamoran the boundary between Cathay and Manzi, it was not so for any great distance. Ho-nan belonged essentially to Cathay. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Magaillans says the Southerns, in return, called the Northerns _Pe-tai_, “Fools of the North”! CHAPTER LXV. HOW THE GREAT KAAN CONQUERED THE PROVINCE OF MANZI. You must know that there was a King and Sovereign lord of the great territory of Manzi who was styled FACFUR, so great and puissant a prince, that for vastness of wealth and number of subjects and extent of dominion, there was hardly a greater in all the earth except the Great Kaan himself.{1} But the people of his land were anything rather than warriors; all their delight was in women, and nought but women; and so it was above all with the King himself, for he took thought of nothing else but women, unless it were of charity to the poor. In all his dominion there were no horses; nor were the people ever inured to battle or arms, or military service of any kind. Yet the province of Manzi is very strong by nature, and all the cities are encompassed by sheets of water of great depth, and more than an arblast-shot in width; so that the country never would have been lost, had the people but been soldiers. But that is just what they were not; so lost it was.{2} Now it came to pass, in the year of Christ’s incarnation, 1268, that the Great Kaan, the same that now reigneth, despatched thither a Baron of his whose name was BAYAN CHINCSAN, which is as much as to say “Bayan Hundred Eyes.” And you must know that the King of Manzi had found in his horoscope that he never should lose his Kingdom except through a man that had an hundred eyes; so he held himself assured in his position, for he could not believe that any man in existence could have an hundred eyes. There, however, he deluded himself, in his ignorance of the name of Bayan.{3} This Bayan had an immense force of horse and foot entrusted to him by the Great Kaan, and with these he entered Manzi, and he had also a great number of boats to carry both horse and food when need should be. And when he, with all his host, entered the territory of Manzi and arrived at this city of COIGANJU—whither we now are got, and of which we shall speak presently—he summoned the people thereof to surrender to the Great Kaan; but this they flatly refused. On this Bayan went on to another city, with the same result, and then still went forward; acting thus because he was aware that the Great Kaan was despatching another great host to follow him up.{4} What shall I say then? He advanced to five cities in succession, but got possession of none of them; for he did not wish to engage in besieging them and they would not give themselves up. But when he came to the sixth city he took that by storm, and so with a second, and a third, and a fourth, until he had taken twelve cities in succession. And when he had taken all these he advanced straight against the capital city of the kingdom, which was called KINSAY, and which was the residence of the King and Queen. And when the King beheld Bayan coming with all his host, he was in great dismay, as one unused to see such sights. So he and a great company of his people got on board a thousand ships and fled to the islands of the Ocean Sea, whilst the Queen who remained behind in the city took all measures in her power for its defence, like a valiant lady. Now it came to pass that the Queen asked what was the name of the captain of the host, and they told her that it was Bayan Hundred-Eyes. So when she wist that he was styled Hundred-Eyes, she called to mind how their astrologers had foretold that a man of an hundred eyes should strip them of the kingdom.{5} Wherefore she gave herself up to Bayan, and surrendered to him the whole kingdom and all the other cities and fortresses, so that no resistance was made. And in sooth this was a goodly conquest, for there was no realm on earth half so wealthy.{6} The amount that the King used to expend was perfectly marvellous; and as an example I will tell you somewhat of his liberal acts. In those provinces they are wont to expose their new-born babes; I speak of the poor, who have not the means of bringing them up. But the King used to have all those foundlings taken charge of, and had note made of the signs and planets under which each was born, and then put them out to nurse about the country. And when any rich man was childless he would go to the King and obtain from him as many of these children as he desired. Or, when the children grew up, the King would make up marriages among them, and provide for the couples from his own purse. In this manner he used to provide for some 20,000 boys and girls every year.{7} I will tell you another thing this King used to do. If he was taking a ride through the city and chanced to see a house that was very small and poor standing among other houses that were fine and large, he would ask why it was so, and they would tell him it belonged to a poor man who had not the means to enlarge it. Then the King would himself supply the means. And thus it came to pass that in all the capital of the kingdom of Manzi, Kinsay by name, you should not see any but fine houses. This King used to be waited on by more than a thousand young gentlemen and ladies, all clothed in the richest fashion. And he ruled his realm with such justice that no malefactors were to be found therein. The city in fact was so secure that no man closed his doors at night, not even in houses and shops that were full of all sorts of rich merchandize. No one could do justice in the telling to the great riches of that country, and to the good disposition of the people. Now that I have told you about the kingdom, I will go back to the Queen. You must know that she was conducted to the Great Kaan, who gave her an honourable reception, and caused her to be served with all state, like a great lady as she was. But as for the King her husband, he never more did quit the isles of the sea to which he had fled, but died there. So leave we him and his wife and all their concerns, and let us return to our story, and go on regularly with our account of the great province of Manzi and of the manners and customs of its people. And, to begin at the beginning, we must go back to the city of Coiganju, from which we digressed to tell you about the conquest of Manzi. NOTE 1.—_Faghfúr_ or _Baghbúr_ was a title applied by old Persian and Arabic writers to the Emperor of China, much in the way that we used to speak of the _Great Mogul_, and our fathers of the _Sophy_. It is, as Neumann points out, an old Persian translation of the Chinese title _Tien-tzŭ_, “Son of Heaven”; _Bagh-Púr_ = “The Son of the Divinity,” as Sapor or _Sháh-Púr_ = “The Son of the King.” _Faghfur_ seems to have been used as a proper name in Turkestan. (See _Baber_, 423.) There is a word, _Takfúr_, applied similarly by the Mahomedans to the Greek emperors of both Byzantium and Trebizond (and also to the Kings of Cilician Armenia), which was perhaps adopted as a jingling match to the former term; Faghfur, the great infidel king in the East; Takfur, the great infidel king in the West. Defrémery says this is Armenian, _Tagavor_, “a king.” (_I. B._, II. 393, 427.) [“The last of the Sung Emperors (1276) ‘Facfur’ (_i.e._ the Arabic for _Tien Tzŭ_) was freed by Kúblái from the (ancient Kotan) indignity of surrendering with a rope round his neck, leading a sheep, and he received the title of Duke. In 1288 he went to Tibet to study Buddhism, and in 1296 he and his mother, Ts’iuen T’aï How, became a bonze and a nun, and were allowed to hold 360 _k’ing_ (say 5000 acres) of land free of taxes under the then existing laws.” (_E. H. Parker, China Review_, February, March 1901, p. 195.)—H. C.] NOTE 2.—Nevertheless the history of the conquest shows instances of extraordinary courage and self-devotion on the part of Chinese officers, especially in the defence of fortresses—virtues often shown in like degree, under like circumstances, by the same class, in the modern history of China. NOTE 3.—Bayan (signifying “great” or “noble”) is a name of very old renown among the Nomad nations, for we find it as that of the Khagan of the Avars in the 6th century. The present BAYAN, Kúblái’s most famous lieutenant, was of princely birth, in the Mongol tribe called Barin. In his youth he served in the West of Asia under Hulaku. According to Rashiduddin, about 1265 he was sent to Cathay with certain ambassadors of the Kaan’s who were returning thither. He was received with great distinction by Kúblái, who was greatly taken with his prepossessing appearance and ability, and a command was assigned him. In 1273, after the capture of Siang-Yang (_infra_, ch. lxx.) the Kaan named him to the chief command in the prosecution of the war against the Sung Dynasty. Whilst Bayan was in the full tide of success, Kúblái, alarmed by the ravages of Kaidu on the Mongolian frontier, recalled him to take the command there, but, on the general’s remonstrance, he gave way, and made him a minister of state (CHINGSIANG). The essential part of his task was completed by the surrender of the capital _King-szé_ (Lin-ngan, now Hang-chau) to his arms in the beginning of 1276. He was then recalled to court, and immediately despatched to Mongolia, where he continued in command for seventeen years, his great business being to keep down the restless Kaidu. [“The biography of this valiant captain is found in the _Yuen-shi_ (ch. cxxvii.). It is quite in accordance with the biographical notices Rashid gives of the same personage. He calls him _Bayan_.” (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. p. 271, note).] [“The inventory, records, etc., of Kinsai, mentioned by Marco Polo, as also the letter from the old empress, are undoubted facts: complete stock was taken, and 5,692,656 souls were added to the population (in the two Chêh alone). The Emperor surrendered in person to Bayan a few days after his official surrender, which took place on the 18th day of the 1st moon in 1276. Bayan took the Emperor to see Kúblái.” (_E. H. Parker, China Review_, XXIV. p. 105.)—H. C.] In 1293, enemies tried to poison the emperor’s ear against Bayan, and they seemed to have succeeded; for Kúblái despatched his heir, the Prince Teimur, to supersede him in the frontier command. Bayan beat Kaidu once more, and then made over his command with characteristic dignity. On his arrival at court, Kúblái received him with the greatest honour, and named him chief minister of state and commandant of his guards and the troops about Cambaluc. The emperor died in the beginning of the next year (1294), and Bayan’s high position enabled him to take decisive measures for preserving order, and maintaining Kúblái’s disposition of the succession. Bayan was raised to still higher dignities, but died at the age of 59, within less than a year of the master whom he had served so well for 30 years (about January, 1295). After his death, according to the peculiar Chinese fashion, he received yet further accessions of dignity. The language of Chinese historians in speaking of this great man is thus rendered by De Mailla; it is a noble eulogy of a Tartar warrior:— “He was endowed with a lofty genius, and possessed in the highest measure the art of handling great bodies of troops. When he marched against the Sung, he directed the movements of 200,000 men with as much ease and coolness as if there had been but one man under his orders. All his officers looked up to him as a prodigy; and having absolute trust in his capacity, they obeyed him with entire submission. Nobody knew better how to deal with soldiers, or to moderate their ardour when it carried them too far. He was never seen sad except when forced to shed blood, for he was sparing even of the blood of his enemy.... His modesty was not inferior to his ability.... He would attribute all the honour to the conduct of his officers, and he was ever ready to extol their smallest feats. He merited the praises of Chinese as well as Mongols, and both nations long regretted the loss of this great man.” De Mailla gives a different account from Rashiduddin and Gaubil, of the manner in which Bayan first entered the Kaan’s service. (_Gaubil_, 145, 159, 169, 179, 183, 221, 223–224; _Erdmann_, 222–223; _De Mailla_, IX. 335, 458, 461–463.) NOTE 4.—As regards Bayan personally, and the main body under his command, this seems to be incorrect. His advance took place from Siang-yang along the lines of the Han River and of the Great Kiang. Another force indeed marched direct upon Yang-chau, and therefore probably by Hwai-ngan chau (_infra_, p. 152); and it is noted that Bayan’s orders to the generals of this force were to spare bloodshed. (_Gaubil_, 159; _D’Ohsson_, II. 398.) NOTE 5.—So in our own age ran the Hindu prophecy that Bhartpúr should never fall till there came a great alligator against it; and when it fell to the English assault, the Brahmans found that the name of the leader was COMBERMERE = _Kumhír-Mír_, the Crocodile Lord! ——“Be those juggling fiends no more believed That palter with us in a double sense; That keep the word of promise to our ear And break it to our hope!” It would seem from the expression, both in Pauthier’s text and in the G. T., as if Polo intended to say that _Chincsan_ (Cinqsan) meant “One Hundred Eyes”; and if so we could have no stronger proof of his ignorance of Chinese. It is _Pe-yen_, the Chinese form of _Bayan_, that means, or rather may be punningly rendered, “One Hundred Eyes.” Chincsan, _i.e._ _Ching-siang_, was the title of the superior ministers of state at Khanbaligh, as we have already seen. The title occurs pretty frequently in the Persian histories of the Mongols, and frequently as a Mongol title in Sanang Setzen. We find it also disguised as _Chyansam_ in a letter from certain Christian nobles at Khanbaligh, which Wadding quotes from the Papal archives. (See _Cathay_, pp. 314–315.) But it is right to observe that in the Ramusian version the mistranslation which we have noticed is not so undubitable: “Volendo sapere come avea nome il Capitano nemico, le fu detto, _Chinsambaian_, cioè _Cent’occhi_.” A kind of corroboration of Marco’s story, but giving a different form to the pun, has been found by Mr. W. F. Mayers, of the Diplomatic Department in China, in a Chinese compilation dating from the latter part of the 14th century. Under the heading, “_A Kiang-nan Prophecy_,” this book states that prior to the fall of the Sung a prediction ran through Kiang-nan: “If Kiang-nan fall, a hundred wild geese (_Pê-yen_) will make their appearance.” This, it is added, was not understood till the generalissimo _Peyen Chingsiang_ made his appearance on the scene. “Punning prophecies of this kind are so common in Chinese history, that the above is only worth noticing in connection with Marco Polo’s story.” (_N. and Q., China and Japan_, vol. ii. p. 162.) But I should suppose that the Persian historian Wassáf had also heard a bungled version of the same story, which he tells in a pointless manner of the fortress of _Sináfúr_ (evidently a clerical error for _Saianfu_, see below, ch. lxx.): “Payan ordered this fortress to be assaulted. The garrison had heard how the capital of China had fallen, and the army of Payan was drawing near. The commandant was an experienced veteran who had tasted all the sweets and bitters of fortune, and had borne the day’s heat and the night’s cold; he had, as the saw goes, milked the world’s cow dry. So he sent word to Payan: ‘In my youth’ (here we abridge Wassáf’s rigmarole) ‘I heard my father tell that this fortress should be taken by a man called _Payan_, and that all fencing and trenching, fighting and smiting, would be of no avail. You need not, therefore, bring an army hither; we give in; we surrender the fortress and all that is therein.’ So they opened the gates and came down.” (_Wassáf_, Hammer’s ed., p. 41). NOTE 6.—There continues in this narrative, with a general truth as to the course of events, a greater amount of error as to particulars than we should have expected. The Sung Emperor Tu Tsong, a debauched and effeminate prince, to whom Polo seems to refer, had died in 1274, leaving young children only. Chaohien, the second son, a boy of four years of age, was put on the throne, with his grandmother Siechi, as regent. The approach of Bayan caused the greatest alarm; the Sung Court made humble propositions, but they were not listened to. The brothers of the young emperor were sent off by sea into the southern provinces; the empress regent was also pressed to make her escape with the young emperor, but, after consenting, she changed her mind and would not move. The Mongols arrived before King-szé, and the empress sent the great seal of the empire to Bayan. He entered the city without resistance in the third month (say April), 1276, riding at the head of his whole staff with the standard of the general-in-chief before him. It is remarked that he went to look at the tide in the River Tsien Tang, which is noted for its bore. He declined to meet the regent and her grandson, pleading that he was ignorant of the etiquettes proper to such an interview. Before his entrance Bayan had nominated a joint-commission of Mongol and Chinese officers to the government of the city, and appointed a committee to take charge of all the public documents, maps, drawings, records of courts, and seals of all public offices, and to plant sentinels at necessary points. The emperor, his mother, and the rest of the Sung princes and princesses, were despatched to the Mongol capital. A desperate attempt was made, at Kwa-chau (_infra_, ch. lxxii.) to recapture the young emperor, but it failed. On their arrival at Ta-tu, Kúblái’s chief queen, Jamui Khatun, treated them with delicate consideration. This amiable lady, on being shown the spoils that came from Lin-ngan, only wept, and said to her husband, “So also shall it be with the Mongol empire one day!” The eldest of the two boys who had escaped was proclaimed emperor by his adherents at Fu-chau, in Fo-kien, but they were speedily driven from that province (where the local histories, as Mr. G. Phillips informs me, preserve traces of their adventures in the Islands of Amoy Harbour), and the young emperor died on a desert island off the Canton coast in 1278. His younger brother took his place, but a battle, in the beginning of 1279 finally extinguished these efforts of the expiring dynasty, and the minister jumped with his young lord into the sea. It is curious that Rashiduddin, with all his opportunities of knowledge, writing at least twenty years later, was not aware of this, for he speaks of the Prince of Manzi as still a fugitive in the forests between Zayton and Canton. (_Gaubil; D’Ohsson; De Mailla; Cathay_, p. 272.) [See _Parker_, _supra_, p. 148 and 149.—H. C.] There is a curious account in the _Lettres Édifiantes_ (xxiv. 45 _seqq._) by P. Parrenin of a kind of _Pariah_ caste at Shao-hing (see ch. lxxix. note 1), who were popularly believed to be the descendants of the great lords of the Sung Court, condemned to that degraded condition for obstinately resisting the Mongols. Another notice, however, makes the degraded body rebels against the Sung. (_Milne_, p. 218.) NOTE 7.—There is much about the exposure of children, and about Chinese foundling hospitals, in the _Lettres Édifiantes_, especially in Recueil xv. 83, _seqq._ It is there stated that frequently a person not in circumstances to _pay_ for a wife for his son, would visit the foundling hospital to seek one. The childless rich also would sometimes get children there to pass off as their own; _adopted_ children being excluded from certain valuable privileges. Mr. Milne (_Life in China_), and again Mr. Medhurst (_Foreigner in Far Cathay_), have discredited the great prevalence of infant exposure in China; but since the last work was published, I have seen the translation of a recent strong remonstrance against the practice by a Chinese writer, which certainly implied that it was _very_ prevalent in the writer’s own province. Unfortunately, I have lost the reference. [See _Father G. Palatre, L’Infanticide et l’Œuvre de la Ste. Enfance en Chine_, 1878.—H. C.] CHAPTER LXVI. CONCERNING THE CITY OF COIGANJU. Coiganju is, as I have told you already, a very large city standing at the entrance to Manzi. The people are Idolaters and burn their dead, and are subject to the Great Kaan. They have a vast amount of shipping, as I mentioned before in speaking of the River Caramoran. And an immense quantity of merchandize comes hither, for the city is the seat of government for this part of the country. Owing to its being on the river, many cities send their produce thither to be again thence distributed in every direction. A great amount of salt also is made here, furnishing some forty other cities with that article, and bringing in a large revenue to the Great Kaan.{1} NOTE 1.—Coiganju is HWAI-NGAN CHAU, now _-Fu_, on the canal, some miles south of the channel of the Hwang-Ho; but apparently in Polo’s time the great river passed close to it. Indeed, the city takes its name from the River _Hwai_, into which the Hwang-Ho sent a branch when first seeking a discharge south of Shantung. The city extends for about 3 miles along the canal and much below its level. [According to Sir J. F. Davis, the situation of Hwai-ngan “is in every respect remarkable. A part of the town was so much below the level of the canal, that only the tops of the walls (at least 25 feet high) could be seen from our boats.... It proved to be, next to Tien-tsin, by far the largest and most populous place we had yet seen, the capital itself excepted.” (_Sketches of China_, I. pp. 277–278.)—H. C.] The headquarters of the salt manufacture of Hwai-ngan is a place called Yen-ching (“Salt-Town”), some distance to the S. of the former city (_Pauthier_). CHAPTER LXVII. OF THE CITIES OF PAUKIN AND CAYU. When you leave Coiganju you ride south-east for a day along a causeway laid with fine stone, which you find at this entrance to Manzi. On either hand there is a great expanse of water, so that you cannot enter the province except along this causeway. At the end of the day’s journey you reach the fine city of PAUKIN. The people are Idolaters, burn their dead, are subject to the Great Kaan, and use paper-money. They live by trade and manufactures and have great abundance of silk, whereof they weave a great variety of fine stuffs of silk and gold. Of all the necessaries of life there is great store. When you leave Paukin you ride another day to the south-east, and then you arrive at the city of CAYU. The people are Idolaters (and so forth). They live by trade and manufactures and have great store of all necessaries, including fish in great abundance. There is also much game, both beast and bird, insomuch that for a Venice groat you can have three good pheasants.{1} NOTE 1.—Paukin is PAO-YING-Hien [a populous place, considerably below the level of the canal (_Davis, Sketches_, I. pp. 279–280)]; Cayu is KAO-YU-chau, both cities on the east side of the canal. At Kao-yu, the country east of the canal lies some 20 feet below the canal level; so low indeed that the walls of the city are not visible from the further bank of the canal. To the west is the Kao-yu Lake, one of the expanses of water spoken of by Marco, and which threatens great danger to the low country on the east. (See _Alabaster’s Journey_ in _Consular Reports_ above quoted, p. 5 [and _Gandar, Canal Impérial_, p. 17.—H. C.].) There is a fine drawing of Pao-ying, by Alexander, in the Staunton collection, British Museum. CHAPTER LXVIII. OF THE CITIES OF TIJU, TINJU, AND YANJU. When you leave Cayu, you ride another day to the south-east through a constant succession of villages and fields and fine farms until you come to TIJU, which is a city of no great size but abounding in everything. The people are Idolaters (and so forth). There is a great amount of trade, and they have many vessels. And you must know that on your left hand, that is towards the east, and three days’ journey distant, is the Ocean Sea. At every place between the sea and the city salt is made in great quantities. And there is a rich and noble city called TINJU, at which there is produced salt enough to supply the whole province, and I can tell you it brings the Great Kaan an incredible revenue. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Kaan. Let us quit this, however, and go back to Tiju.{1} Again, leaving Tiju, you ride another day towards the south-east, and at the end of your journey you arrive at the very great and noble city of YANJU, which has seven-and-twenty other wealthy cities under its administration; so that this Yanju is, you see, a city of great importance.{2} It is the seat of one of the Great Kaan’s Twelve Barons, for it has been chosen to be one of the Twelve _Sings_. The people are Idolaters and use paper-money, and are subject to the Great Kaan. And Messer Marco Polo himself, of whom this book speaks, did govern this city for three full years, by the order of the Great Kaan.{3} The people live by trade and manufactures, for a great amount of harness for knights and men-at-arms is made there. And in this city and its neighbourhood a large number of troops are stationed by the Kaan’s orders. There is no more to say about it. So now I will tell you about two great provinces of Manzi which lie towards the west. And first of that called Nanghin. NOTE 1.—Though the text would lead us to look for _Tiju_ on the direct line between Kao-yu and Yang-chau, and like them on the canal bank (indeed one MS., C. of Pauthier, specifies its standing on the same river as the cities already passed, _i.e._ on the canal), we seem constrained to admit the general opinion that this is TAI-CHAU, a town lying some 25 miles at least to the eastward of the canal, but apparently connected with it by a navigable channel. _Tinju_ or _Chinju_ (for both the G. T. and Ramusio read _Cingui_) cannot be identified with certainty. But I should think it likely, from Polo’s “geographical style,” that when he spoke of the sea as three days distant he had this city in view, and that it is probably TUNG-CHAU, near the northern shore of the estuary of the Yang-tzŭ, which might be fairly described as three days from Tai-chau. Mr. Kingsmill identifies it with I-chin hien, the great port on the Kiang for the export of the Yang-chau salt. This is possible; but I-chin lies _west_ of the canal, and though the form _Chinju_ would really represent I-chin as then named, such a position seems scarcely compatible with the way, vague as it is, in which Tinju or Chinju is introduced. Moreover, we shall see that I-chin is spoken of hereafter. (_Kingsmill_ in _N. and Q. Ch. and Japan_, I. 53.) NOTE 2.—Happily, there is no doubt that this is YANG-CHAU, one of the oldest and most famous great cities of China. [Abulfeda (_Guyard_, II. ii. 122) says that Yang-chau is the capital of the Faghfûr of China, and that he is called Tamghâdj-khan.—H. C.] Some five-and-thirty years after Polo’s departure from China, Friar Odoric found at this city a House of his own Order (Franciscans), and three Nestorian churches. The city also appears in the Catalan Map as _Iangio_. Yang-chau suffered greatly in the T’aï-P’ing rebellion, but its position is an “obligatory point” for commerce, and it appears to be rapidly recovering its prosperity. It is the headquarters of the salt manufacture, and it is also now noted for a great manufacture of sweetmeats (See _Alabaster’s Report_, as above, p. 6.) [Illustration: Yang chau: the three Cities Under the Sung.] [Through the kindness of the late Father H. Havret, S.J., of Zi-ka-wei, I am enabled to give two plans from the Chronicles of Yang-chau, _Yang-chau fu ché_ (ed. 1733); one bears the title: “The Three Cities under the Sung,” and the other: “The Great City under the Sung.” The three cities are _Pao yew cheng_, built in 1256, _Sin Pao-cheng_ or _Kia cheng_, built after 1256, and _Tacheng_, the “Great City,” built in 1175; in 1357, Ta cheng was rebuilt, and in 1557 it was augmented, taking the place of the three cities; from 553 B.C. until the 12th century, Yang-chau had no less than five enclosures; the governor’s yamen stood where a cross is marked in the Great City. Since Yang-chau has been laid in ruins by the T’aï-P’ing insurgents, these plans offer now a new interest.—H. C.] [Illustration: Yang-chau: the Great City under the Sung.] NOTE 3.—What I have rendered “Twelve _Sings_” is in the G. T. “douze _sajes_,” and in Pauthier’s text “_sieges_.” It seems to me a reasonable conclusion that the original word was _Sings_ (see I. 432, _supra_); anyhow that was the proper term for the thing meant. In his note on this chapter, Pauthier produces evidence that Yang-chau was the seat of a _Lu_ or circuit[1] from 1277, and also of a _Sing_ or Government-General, but only for the first year after the conquest, viz. 1276–1277, and he seems (for his argument is obscure) to make from this the unreasonable deduction that at this period Kúblái placed Marco Polo—who could not be more than twenty-three years of age, and had been but two years in Cathay—in charge either of the general government, or of an important district government in the most important province of the empire. In a later note M. Pauthier speaks of 1284 as the date at which the _Sing_ of the province of Kiang-ché was transferred from Yang-chau to Hang-chau; this is probably to be taken as a correction of the former citations, and it better justifies Polo’s statement. (_Pauthier_, pp. 467, 492.) I do not think that we are to regard Marco as having held at any time the important post of Governor-General of Kiang-ché. The expressions in the G. T. are: “_Meser Marc Pol meisme, celui de cui trate ceste livre, seingneurie ceste cité por trois anz._” Pauthier’s MS. A. appears to read: “_Et ot seigneurie, Marc Pol, en ceste cité, trois ans._” These expressions probably point to the government of the _Lu_ or circuit of Yang-chau, just as we find in ch. lxxiii. another Christian, Mar Sarghis, mentioned as Governor of Chin-kiang fu for the same term of years, that city being also the head of a _Lu_. It is remarkable that in Pauthier’s MS. C., which often contains readings of peculiar value, the passage runs (and also in the Bern MS.): “_Et si vous dy que ledit Messire Marc Pol, cellui meisme de qui nostre livre parle_, sejourna, _en ceste cité de Janguy_ .iii. _ans accompliz, par le commandement du Grant Kaan_,” in which the nature of his employment is not indicated at all (though _séjourna_ may be an error for _seigneura_). The impression of his having been Governor-General is mainly due to the Ramusian version, which says distinctly indeed that “_M. Marco Polo di commissione del Gran Can n’ebbe il governo tre anni continui_ in luogo di un dei detti Baroni,” but it is very probable that this is a gloss of the translator. I should conjecture his rule at Yang-chau to have been between 1282, when we know he was at the capital (vol. i. p. 422), and 1287–1288, when he must have gone on his first expedition to the Indian Seas. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] The _Lu_ or Circuit was an administrative division under the Mongols, intermediate between the _Sing_ and the _Fu_, or department. There were 185 _lu_ in all China under Kúblái. (_Pauth._ 333). [_Mr. E. L. Oxenham, Hist. Atlas Chin. Emp._, reckons 10 provinces or _sheng_, 39 _fu_ cities, 316 _chau_, 188 _lu_, 12 military governorships.—H. C.] CHAPTER LXIX. CONCERNING THE CITY OF NANGHIN. Nanghin is a very noble Province towards the west. The people are Idolaters (and so forth) and live by trade and manufactures. They have silk in great abundance, and they weave many fine tissues of silk and gold. They have all sorts of corn and victuals very cheap, for the province is a most productive one. Game also is abundant, and lions too are found there. The merchants are great and opulent, and the Emperor draws a large revenue from them, in the shape of duties on the goods which they buy and sell.{1} And now I will tell you of the very noble city of Saianfu, which well deserves a place in our book, for there is a matter of great moment to tell about it. NOTE 1.—The name and direction from Yang-chau are probably sufficient to indicate (as Pauthier has said) that this is NGAN-KING on the Kiang, capital of the modern province of Ngan-hwei. The more celebrated city of _Nan-king_ did not bear that name in our traveller’s time. Ngan-king, when recovered from the T’aï-P’ing in 1861, was the scene of a frightful massacre by the Imperialists. They are said to have left neither man, woman, nor child alive in the unfortunate city. (_Blakiston_, p. 55.) CHAPTER LXX. CONCERNING THE VERY NOBLE CITY OF SAIANFU, AND HOW ITS CAPTURE WAS EFFECTED. Saianfu is a very great and noble city, and it rules over twelve other large and rich cities, and is itself a seat of great trade and manufacture. The people are Idolaters (and so forth). They have much silk, from which they weave fine silken stuffs; they have also a quantity of game, and in short the city abounds in all that it behoves a noble city to possess. Now you must know that this city held out against the Great Kaan for three years after the rest of Manzi had surrendered. The Great Kaan’s troops made incessant attempts to take it, but they could not succeed because of the great and deep waters that were round about it, so that they could approach from one side only, which was the north. And I tell you they never would have taken it, but for a circumstance that I am going to relate. You must know that when the Great Kaan’s host had lain three years before the city without being able to take it, they were greatly chafed thereat. Then Messer Nicolo Polo and Messer Maffeo and Messer Marco said: “We could find you a way of forcing the city to surrender speedily;” whereupon those of the army replied, that they would be right glad to know how that should be. All this talk took place in the presence of the Great Kaan. For messengers had been despatched from the camp to tell him that there was no taking the city by blockade, for it continually received supplies of victual from those sides which they were unable to invest; and the Great Kaan had sent back word that take it they must, and find a way how. Then spoke up the two brothers and Messer Marco the son, and said: “Great Prince, we have with us among our followers men who are able to construct mangonels which shall cast such great stones that the garrison will never be able to stand them, but will surrender incontinently, as soon as the mangonels or trebuchets shall have shot into the town.”{1} The Kaan bade them with all his heart have such mangonels made as speedily as possible. Now Messer Nicolo and his brother and his son immediately caused timber to be brought, as much as they desired, and fit for the work in hand. And they had two men among their followers, a German and a Nestorian Christian, who were masters of that business, and these they directed to construct two or three mangonels capable of casting stones of 300 lbs. weight. Accordingly they made three fine mangonels, each of which cast stones of 300 lbs. weight and more.{2} And when they were complete and ready for use, the Emperor and the others were greatly pleased to see them, and caused several stones to be shot in their presence; whereat they marvelled greatly and greatly praised the work. And the Kaan ordered that the engines should be carried to his army which was at the leaguer of Saianfu.{3} And when the engines were got to the camp they were forthwith set up, to the great admiration of the Tartars. And what shall I tell you? When the engines were set up and put in gear, a stone was shot from each of them into the town. These took effect among the buildings, crashing and smashing through everything with huge din and commotion. And when the townspeople witnessed this new and strange visitation they were so astonished and dismayed that they wist not what to do or say. They took counsel together, but no counsel could be suggested how to escape from these engines, for the thing seemed to them to be done by sorcery. They declared that they were all dead men if they yielded not, so they determined to surrender on such conditions as they could get.{4} Wherefore they straightway sent word to the commander of the army that they were ready to surrender on the same terms as the other cities of the province had done, and to become the subjects of the Great Kaan; and to this the captain of the host consented. So the men of the city surrendered, and were received to terms; and this all came about through the exertions of Messer Nicolo, and Messer Maffeo, and Messer Marco; and it was no small matter. For this city and province is one of the best that the Great Kaan possesses, and brings him in great revenues.{5} NOTE 1.—Pauthier’s MS. C. here says: “When the Great Kaan, and the Barons about him, and the messengers from the camp ... heard this, they all marvelled greatly; for I tell you that in all those parts they know nothing of mangonels or trebuchets; and they were so far from being accustomed to employ them in their wars that they had never even seen them, nor knew what they were.” The MS. in question has in this narrative several statements peculiar to itself,[1] as indeed it has in various other passages of the book; and these often look very like the result of revision by Polo himself. Yet I have not introduced the words just quoted into our text, because they are, as we shall see presently, notoriously contrary to fact. NOTE 2.—The same MS. has here a passage which I am unable to understand. After the words “300 lbs. and more,” it goes on: “Et la veoit l’en voler moult loing, desquelles pierres _il en y avoit plus de_ lx _routes qui tant montoit l’une comme l’autre_.” The Bern has the same. [Perhaps we might read lx _en routes_, viz. on their way.—H. C.] NOTE 3.—I propose here to enter into some detailed explanation regarding the military engines that were in use in the Middle Ages.[2] None of these depended for their motive force on _torsion_ like the chief engines used in classic times. However numerous the names applied to them, with reference to minor variations in construction or differences in power, they may all be reduced to two classes, viz. _great slings_ and _great crossbows_. And this is equally true of all the three great branches of mediæval civilisation—European, Saracenic, and Chinese. To the first class belonged the _Trebuchet_ and _Mangonel_; to the second, the _Winch-Arblast_ (Arbalète à Tour), _Springold_ etc. Whatever the ancient _Balista_ may have been, the word in mediæval Latin seems always to mean some kind of crossbow. The heavier crossbows were wound up by various aids, such as winches, ratchets, etc. They discharged stone shot, leaden bullets, and short, square-shafted arrows called _quarrels_, and these with such force we are told as to pierce a six-inch post (?). But they were worked so slowly in the field that they were no match for the long-bow, which shot five or six times to their once. The great machines of this kind were made of wood, of steel, and very frequently of horn;[3] and the bow was sometimes more than 30 feet in length. Dufour calculates that such a machine could shoot an arrow of half a kilogram in weight to a distance of about 860 yards. The _Trebuchet_ consisted of a long tapering shaft or beam, pivoted at a short distance from the butt end on a pair of strong pyramidal trestles. At the other end of the shaft a sling was applied, one cord of which was firmly attached by a ring, whilst the other hung in a loop over an iron hook which formed the extremity of the shaft. The power employed to discharge the sling was either the strength of a number of men, applied to ropes which were attached to the short end of the shaft or lever, or the weight of a heavy counterpoise hung from the same, and suddenly released. [Illustration: Mediæval Artillery Engines. Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Chinese; Figs. 6, 7, 8, Saracenic; the rest Frank.] Supposing the latter force to be employed, the long end of the shaft was drawn down by a windlass; the sling was laid forward in a wooden trough provided for it, and charged with the shot. The counterpoise was, of course, now aloft, and was so maintained by a detent provided with a trigger. On pulling this, the counterpoise falls and the shaft flies upwards drawing the sling. When a certain point is reached the loop end of the sling releases itself from the hook, and the sling flies abroad whilst the shot is projected in its parabolic flight.[4] To secure the most favourable result the shot should have acquired its maximum velocity, and should escape at an angle of about 45°. The attainment of this required certain proportions between the different dimensions of the machine and the weight of the shot, for which, doubtless, traditional rules of thumb existed among the mediæval engineers. The ordinary shot consisted of stones carefully rounded. But for these were substituted on occasion rough stones with fuses attached,[5] pieces of red-hot iron, pots of fused metal, or casks full of Greek fire or of foul matter to corrupt the air of the besieged place. Thus carrion was shot into Negropont from such engines by Mahomed II. The Cardinal Octavian, besieging Modena in 1249, slings a dead ass into the town. Froissart several times mentions such measures, as at the siege of Thin l’Evêque on the Scheldt in 1340, when “the besiegers by their engines flung dead horses and other carrion into the castle to poison the garrison by their smell.” In at least one instance the same author tells how a living man, an unlucky messenger from the Castle of Auberoche, was caught by the besiegers, thrust into the sling with the letters that he bore hung round his neck, and shot into Auberoche, where he fell dead among his horrified comrades. And Lipsius quotes from a Spanish Chronicle the story of a virtuous youth, Pelagius, who, by order of the Tyrant Abderramin, was shot across the Guadalquivir, but lighted unharmed upon the rocks beyond. Ramon de Muntaner relates how King James of Aragon, besieging Majorca in 1228, vowed vengeance against the Saracen King because he shot Christian prisoners into the besiegers’ camp with his trebuchets (pp. 223–224). We have mentioned one kind of corruption propagated by these engines; the historian Wassáf tells of another. When the garrison of Dehli refused to open the gates to Aláuddin Khilji after the murder of his uncle, Firúz (1296), he loaded his mangonels with bags of gold and shot them into the fort, a measure which put an end to the opposition. Ibn Batuta, forty years later, describes Mahomed Tughlak as entering Dehli accompanied by elephants carrying small _balistae_ (_ra’ádát_), from which gold and silver pieces were shot among the crowd. And the same king, when he had given the crazy and cruel order that the population of Dehli should evacuate the city and depart to Deogir, 900 miles distant, having found two men skulking behind, one of whom was paralytic and the other blind, caused the former to be shot from a mangonel. (_I. B._ III. 395, 315.) Some old drawings represent the shaft as discharging the shot from a kind of spoon at its extremity, without the aid of a sling (_e.g._ fig. 13); but it may be doubted if this was actually used, for the sling was essential to the efficiency of the engine. The experiments and calculations of Dufour show that without the sling, other things remaining the same, the range of the shot would be reduced by more than a half. In some of these engines the counterpoise, consisting of a timber case filled with stones, sand, or the like, was permanently fixed to the butt-end of the shaft. This seems to have been the _Trebuchet_ proper. In others the counterpoise hung free on a pivot from the yard; whilst a third kind (as in fig. 17) combined both arrangements. The first kind shot most steadily and truly; the second with more force. Those machines, in which the force of men pulling cords took the place of the counterpoise, could not discharge such weighty shot, but they could be worked more rapidly, and no doubt could be made of lighter scantling. Mr. Hewitt points out a curious resemblance between this kind of Trebuchet and the apparatus used on the Thames to raise the cargo from the hold of a collier. The Emperor Napoleon deduces from certain passages in mediæval writers that the _Mangonel_ was similar to the Trebuchet, but of lighter structure and power. But often certainly the term Mangonel seems to be used generically for all machines of this class. Marino Sanudo uses no word but _Machina_, which he appears to employ as the Latin equivalent of _Mangonel_, whilst the machine which he describes is a Trebuchet with moveable counterpoise. The history of the word appears to be the following. The Greek word μάγγανον, “a piece of witchcraft,” came to signify a juggler’s trick, an unexpected contrivance (in modern slang “_a jim_”), and so specially a military engine. It seems to have reached this specific meaning by the time of Hero the Younger, who is believed to have written in the first half of the 7th century. From the form μαγγανικὸν the Orientals got _Manganíḳ_ and _Manjániḳ_,[6] whilst the Franks adopted _Mangona_ and _Mangonella_. Hence the verbs _manganare_ and _amanganare_, to batter and crush with such engines, and eventually our verb “to mangle.” Again, when the use of gunpowder rendered these warlike engines obsolete, perhaps their ponderous counterweights were utilised in the peaceful arts of the laundry, and hence gave us our substantive “the Mangle” (It. _Mangano_)! The Emperor Napoleon, when Prince President, caused some interesting experiments in the matter of mediæval artillery to be carried out at Vincennes, and a full-sized trebuchet was constructed there. With a shaft of 33 feet 9 inches in length, having a permanent counterweight of 3300 lbs. and a pivoted counterweight of 6600 lbs. more, the utmost effect attained was the discharge of an iron 24-kilo. shot to a range of 191 yards, whilst a 12½-inch shell, filled with earth, ranged to 131 yards. The machine suffered greatly at each discharge, and it was impracticable to increase the counterpoise to 8000 kilos., or 17,600 lbs. as the Prince desired. It was evident that the machine was not of sufficiently massive structure. But the officers in charge satisfied themselves that, with practice in such constructions and the use of very massive timber, even the exceptional feats recorded of mediæval engineers might be realised. Such a case is that cited by Quatremère, from an Oriental author, of the discharge of stones weighing 400 _mans_, certainly not less than 800 lbs., and possibly much more; or that of the Men of Bern, who are reported, when besieging Nidau in 1388, to have employed trebuchets which shot daily into the town upwards of 200 blocks weighing 12 cwt. apiece.[7] Stella relates that the Genoese armament sent against Cyprus, in 1373, among other great machines had one called _Troja_ (_Truia_?), which cast stones of 12 to 18 hundredweights; and when the Venetians were besieging the revolted city of Zara in 1346, their Engineer, Master Francesco delle Barche, shot into the city stones of 3000 lbs. weight.[8] In this case the unlucky engineer was “hoist with his own petard,” for while he stood adjusting one of his engines, it went off, and shot him into the town. With reference to such cases the Emperor calculates that a stone of 3000 lbs. weight might be shot 77 yards with a counterpoise of 36,000 lbs. weight, and a shaft 65 feet long. The counterpoise, composed of stone shot of 55 lbs. each, might be contained in a cubical case of about 5½ feet to the side. The machine would be preposterous, but there is nothing impossible about it. Indeed in the Album of Villard de Honnecourt, an architect of the 13th century, which was published at Paris in 1858, in the notes accompanying a plan of a trebuchet (from which Professor Willis restored the machine as it is shown in our fig. 19), the artist remarks: “It is a great job to heave down the beam, for the counterpoise is very heavy. For it consists of a chest full of earth which is 2 great toises in length, 8 feet in breadth, and 12 feet in depth”! (p. 203). Such calculations enable us to understand the enormous quantities of material said to have been used in some of the larger mediæval machines. Thus Abulfeda speaks of one used at the final capture of Acre, which was entrusted to the troops of Hamath, and which formed a load for 100 carts, of which one was in charge of the historian himself. The romance of Richard Cœur de Lion tells how in the King’s Fleet an entire ship was taken up by one such machine with its gear:— “Another schyp was laden yet With an engyne hyghte Robinet, (It was Richardys o mangonel) And all the takyl that thereto fel.” Twenty-four machines, captured from the Saracens by St. Lewis in his first partial success on the Nile, afforded material for stockading his whole camp. A great machine which cumbered the Tower of St. Paul at Orléans, and was dismantled previous to the celebrated defence against the English, furnished 26 cart-loads of timber. (_Abulf. Ann. Muslem_, V. 95–97; _Weber_, II. 56; _Michel’s Joinville_, App. p. 278; _Jollois, H. du Siège d’Orléans_, 1833, p. 12.) The _number_ of such engines employed was sometimes very great. We have seen that St. Lewis captured 24 at once, and these had been employed in the field. Villehardouin says that the fleet which went from Venice to the attack of Constantinople carried more than 300 perriers and mangonels, besides quantities of other engines required for a siege (ch. xxxviii). At the siege of Acre in 1291, just referred to, the Saracens, according to Makrizi, set 92 engines in battery against the city, whilst Abulfaraj says 300, and a Frank account, of great and small, 666. The larger ones are said to have shot stones of “a kantar and even more.” (_Makrizi_, III. 125; _Reinaud, Chroniques Arabes, etc._, p. 570; _De Excidio Urbis Acconis_, in _Martène and Durand_, V. 769.) How heavy a _mangonade_ was sometimes kept up may be understood from the account of the operations on the Nile, already alluded to. The King was trying to run a dam across a branch of the river, and had protected the head of his work by “cat-castles” or towers of timber, occupied by archers, and these again supported by trebuchets, etc., in battery. “And,” says Jean Pierre Sarrasin, the King’s Chamberlain, “when the Saracens saw what was going on, they planted a great number of engines against ours, and to destroy our towers and our causeway they shot such vast quantities of stones, great and small, that all men stood amazed. They slung stones, and discharged arrows, and shot quarrels from winch-arblasts, and pelted us with Turkish darts and Greek fire, and kept up such a harassment of every kind against our engines and our men working at the causeway, that it was horrid either to see or to hear. Stones, darts, arrows, quarrels, and Greek fire came down on them like rain.” The Emperor Napoleon observes that the direct or grazing fire of the great arblasts may be compared to that of guns in more modern war, whilst the mangonels represent mortar-fire. And this vertical fire was by no means contemptible, at least against buildings of ordinary construction. At the sieges of Thin l’Evêque in 1340, and Auberoche in 1344, already cited, Froissart says the French cast stones in, night and day, so as in a few days to demolish all the roofs of the towers, and none within durst venture out of the vaulted basement. The Emperor’s experiments showed that these machines were capable of surprisingly accurate direction. And the mediæval histories present some remarkable feats of this kind. Thus, in the attack of Mortagne by the men of Hainault and Valenciennes (1340), the latter had an engine which was a great annoyance to the garrison; there was a clever engineer in the garrison who set up another machine against it, and adjusted it so well that the first shot fell within 12 paces of the enemy’s engine, the second fell near the box, and the third struck the shaft and split it in two. Already in the first half of the 13th century, a French poet (quoted by Weber) looks forward with disgust to the supercession of the feats of chivalry by more mechanical methods of war:— “Chevaliers sont esperdus, Cil ont auques leur tens perdus; Arbalestier et mineor Et perrier et engigneor Seront dorenavant plus chier.” When Gházán Khan was about to besiege the castle of Damascus in 1300, so much importance was attached to this art that whilst his Engineer, a man of reputation therein, was engaged in preparing the machines, the Governor of the castle offered a reward of 1000 dinars for that personage’s head. And one of the garrison was daring enough to enter the Mongol camp, stab the Engineer, and carry back his head into the castle! Marino Sanudo, about the same time, speaks of the range of these engines with a prophetic sense of the importance of artillery in war:— “On this subject (length of range) the engineers and experts of the army should employ their very sharpest wits. For if the shot of one army, whether engine-stones or pointed projectiles, have a longer range than the shot of the enemy, rest assured that the side whose artillery hath the longest range will have a vast advantage in action. Plainly, if the Christian shot can take effect on the Pagan forces, whilst the Pagan shot cannot reach the Christian forces, it may be safely asserted that the Christians will continually gain ground from the enemy, or, in other words, they will win the battle.” The importance of these machines in war, and the efforts made to render them more effective, went on augmenting till the introduction of the still more “villanous saltpetre,” even then, however, coming to no sudden halt. Several of the instances that we have cited of machines of extraordinary power belong to a time when the use of cannon had made some progress. The old engines were employed by Timur; in the wars of the Hussites as late as 1422; and, as we have seen, up to the middle of that century by Mahomed II. They are also distinctly represented on the towers of Aden, in the contemporary print of the escalade in 1514, reproduced in this volume. (Bk. III. ch. xxxvi.) (_Etudes sur le Passé et l’Avenir de l’Artillerie_, par _L. N. Bonaparte_, etc., tom. II.; _Marinus Sanutius_, Bk. II. Pt. 4, ch. xxi. and xxii.; _Kington’s Fred. II._, II. 488; _Froissart_, I. 69, 81, 182; _Elliot_, III. 41, etc.; Hewitt’s _Ancient Armour_, I. 350; _Pertz, Scriptores_, XVIII. 420, 751; _Q. R._ 135–7; _Weber_, III. 103; _Hammer, Ilch._ II. 95.) NOTE 4.—Very like this is what the Romance of Cœur de Lion tells of the effects of Sir Fulke Doyley’s mangonels on the Saracens of _Ebedy_:— “Sir Fouke brought good engynes Swylke knew but fewe Sarazynes— * * * A prys tour stood ovyr the Gate; He bent his engynes and threw thereate A great stone that harde droff, That the Tour al to roff * * * And slough the folk that therinne stood; The other fledde and wer nygh wood, And sayde it was the devylys dent,” etc.—_Weber_, II. 172. NOTE 5.—This chapter is one of the most perplexing in the whole book, owing to the chronological difficulties involved. SAIANFU is SIANG-YANG FU, which stands on the south bank of the River Han, and with the sister city of Fan-ch’eng, on the opposite bank, commands the junction of two important approaches to the southern provinces, viz. that from Shen-si down the Han, and that from Shan-si and Peking down the Pe-ho. Fan-ch’eng seems now to be the more important place of the two. The name given to the city by Polo is precisely that which Siang-yang bears in Rashiduddin, and there is no room for doubt as to its identity. The Chinese historians relate that Kúblái was strongly advised to make the capture of Siang-yang and Fan-ch’eng a preliminary to his intended attack upon the Sung. The siege was undertaken in the latter part of 1268, and the twin cities held out till the spring [March] of 1273. Nor did Kúblái apparently prosecute any other operations against the Sung during that long interval. Now Polo represents that the long siege of Saianfu, instead of being a prologue to the subjugation of Manzi, was the protracted epilogue of that enterprise; and he also represents the fall of the place as caused by advice and assistance rendered by his father, his uncle, and himself, a circumstance consistent only with the siege’s having really been such an epilogue to the war. For, according to the narrative as it stands in all the texts, the Polos _could not_ have reached the Court of Kúblái before the end of 1274, _i.e._ a year and a half after the fall of Siang-yang, as represented in the Chinese histories. The difficulty is not removed, nor, it appears to me, abated in any degree, by omitting the name of Marco as one of the agents in this affair, an omission which occurs both in Pauthier’s MS. B and in Ramusio. Pauthier suggests that the father and uncle may have given the advice and assistance in question when on their first visit to the Kaan, and when the siege of Siang-yang was first contemplated. But this would be quite inconsistent with the assertion that the place had held out three years longer than the rest of Manzi, as well as with the idea that their aid had abridged the duration of the siege, and, in fact, with the spirit of the whole story. It is certainly very difficult in this case to justify Marco’s veracity, but I am very unwilling to believe that there was no justification in the facts. It is a very curious circumstance that the historian Wassáf also appears to represent Saianfu (see note 5, ch. lxv.) as holding out after all the rest of Manzi had been conquered. Yet the Chinese annals are systematic, minute, and consequent, and it seems impossible to attribute to them such a misplacement of an event which they represent as the key to the conquest of Southern China. In comparing Marco’s story with that of the Chinese, we find the same coincidence in prominent features, accompanying a discrepancy in details, that we have had occasion to notice in other cases where his narrative intersects history. The Chinese account runs as follows:— In 1271, after Siang-yang and Fan-ch’eng had held out already nearly three years, an Uighúr General serving at the siege, whose name was Alihaiya, urged the Emperor to send to the West for engineers expert at the construction and working of machines casting stones of 150 lbs. weight. With such aid he assured Kúblái the place would speedily be taken. Kúblái sent to his nephew Ábáká in Persia for such engineers, and two were accordingly sent post to China, _Alawating_ of Mufali and his pupil Ysemain of Huli or Hiulie (probably _Ala’uddin_ of _Miafaraḳain_ and _Ismael_ of _Heri_ or Herat). Kúblái on their arrival gave them military rank. They exhibited their skill before the Emperor at Tatu, and in the latter part of 1272 they reached the camp before Siang-yang, and set up their engines. The noise made by the machines, and the crash of the shot as it broke through everything in its fall, caused great alarm in the garrison. Fan-ch’eng was first taken by assault, and some weeks later Siang-yang surrendered. The shot used on this occasion weighed 125 Chinese pounds (if _catties_, then equal to about 166 _lbs. avoird._), and penetrated 7 or 8 feet into the earth. Rashiduddin also mentions the siege of Siang-yang, as we learn from D’Ohsson. He states that as there were in China none of the _Manjaníks_ or Mangonels called _Kumghá_, the Kaan caused a certain engineer to be sent from Damascus or Balbek, and the three sons of this person, Abubakr, Ibrahim, and Mahomed, with their workmen, constructed seven great Manjaníks which were employed against SAYANFU, a frontier fortress and bulwark of Manzi. We thus see that three different notices of the siege of Siang-yang, Chinese, Persian, and Venetian, all concur as to the employment of foreign engineers from the West, but all differ as to the individuals. We have seen that one of the MSS. makes Polo assert that till this event the Mongols and Chinese were totally ignorant of mangonels and trebuchets. This, however, is quite untrue; and it is not very easy to reconcile even the statement, implied in all versions of the story, that mangonels of considerable power were unknown in the far East, with other circumstances related in Mongol history. The Persian History called _Tabaḳát-i-Násiri_ speaks of Aikah Nowin the _Manjaníki Khás_ or Engineer-in-Chief to Chinghiz Khan, and his corps of ten thousand _Manjaníkis_ or Mangonellers. The Chinese histories used by Gaubil also speak of these artillery battalions of Chinghiz. At the siege of Kai-fung fu near the Hwang-Ho, the latest capital of the Kin Emperors, in 1232, the Mongol General, Subutai, threw from his engines great quarters of millstones which smashed the battlements and watch-towers on the ramparts, and even the great timbers of houses in the city. In 1236 we find the Chinese garrison of Chinchau (_I-chin-hien_ on the Great Kiang near the Great Canal) repelling the Mongol attack, partly by means of their stone shot. When Hulaku was about to march against Persia (1253), his brother, the Great Kaan Mangku, sent to _Cathay_ to fetch thence 1000 families of mangonellers, naphtha-shooters, and arblasteers. Some of the crossbows used by these latter had a range, we are told, of 2500 paces! European history bears some similar evidence. One of the Tartar characteristics reported by a fugitive Russian Archbishop, in Matt. Paris (p. 570 under 1244), is: “_Machinas habent multiplices, recte et fortiter jacientes_.” It is evident, therefore, that the Mongols and Chinese _had_ engines of war, but that they were deficient in some advantage possessed by those of the Western nations. Rashiduddin’s expression as to their having no _Kumghá_ mangonels, seems to be unexplained. Is it perhaps an error for _Ḳarábughá_, the name given by the Turks and Arabs to a kind of great mangonel? This was known also in Europe as Carabaga, Calabra, etc. It is mentioned under the former name by Marino Sanudo, and under the latter, with other quaintly-named engines, by William of Tudela, as used by Simon de Montfort the Elder against the Albigenses:— “E dressa sos _Calabres_, et foi _Mal Vezina_ E sas autras pereiras, e _Dona_, e _Reina_; Pessia les autz murs e la sala peirina.”[9] (“He set up his _Calábers_, and likewise his _Ill-Neighbours_, With many a more machine, this the _Lady_, that the _Queen_, And breached the lofty walls, and smashed the stately Halls.”) Now, in looking at the Chinese representations of their ancient mangonels, which are evidently genuine, and of which I have given some specimens (figs. I, 2, 3), I see none worked by the counterpoise; all (and there are six or seven different representations in the work from which these are taken) are shown as worked by man-ropes. Hence, probably, the improvement brought from the West was essentially the use of the counterpoised lever. And, after I had come to this conclusion, I found it to be the view of Captain Favé. (See _Du Feu Grégeois_, by MM. Reinaud and Favé, p. 193.) In Ramusio the two Polos propose to Kúblái to make “_mangani al modo di Ponente_”; and it is worthy of note that in the campaigns of Aláuddin Khilji and his generals in the Deccan, _circa_ 1300, frequent mention is made of the _Western Manjaniks_ and their great power. (See _Elliot_, III. 75, 78, etc.) Of the kind worked by man-ropes must have been that huge mangonel which Mahomed Ibn Kásim, the conqueror of Sind, set in battery against the great Dagoba of Daibul, and which required 500 men to work it. Like Simon de Montfort’s it had a tender name; it was called “The Bride.” (_Elliot_, I. 120.) Before quitting this subject, I will quote a curious passage from the History of the Sung Dynasty, contributed to the work of Reinaud and Favé by M. Stanislas Julien: “In the 9th year of the period Hien-shun (A.D. 1273) the frontier cities had fallen into the hands of the enemy (Tartars). The _Pao_ (or engines for shooting) of the Hwei-Hwei (Mahomedans) were imitated, but in imitating them very ingenious improvements were introduced, and _pao_ of a different and very superior kind were constructed. Moreover, an extraordinary method was invented of neutralising the effects of the enemy’s _pao_. Ropes were made of rice-straw 4 inches thick, and 34 feet in length. Twenty such ropes were joined, applied to the tops of buildings, and covered with clay. In this manner the fire-arrows, fire-_pao_, and even the pao casting stones of 100 lbs. weight, could cause no damage to the towers or houses.” (_Ib._ 196; also for previous parts of this note, _Visdelou_, 188; _Gaubil_, 34, 155 _seqq._ and 70; _De Mailla_, 329; _Pauthier in loco_ and Introduction; _D’Ohsson_, II. 35, and 391; Notes by _Mr. Edward Thomas_, F.R.S.; _Q. Rashid._, pp. 132, 136.) [See I. p. 342.] [Captain Gill writes (_River of Golden Sand_, I. p. 148): “The word ‘P’ao’ which now means ‘cannon,’ was, it was asserted, found in old Chinese books of a date anterior to that in which gunpowder was first known to Europeans; hence the deduction was drawn that the Chinese were acquainted with gunpowder before it was used in the West. But close examination shows that in all old books the radical of the character ‘P’ao’ means ‘stone,’ but that in modern books the radical of the character ‘P’ao’ means ‘fire’; that the character with the radical ‘fire’ only appears in books well known to have been written since the introduction of gunpowder into the West; and that the old character ‘P’ao’ in reality means ‘Balista.’”—H. C.] [Illustration: Coin from a treasure hidden at Siang-yang during the siege in 1268–73, lately discovered.] [“Wheeled boats are mentioned in 1272 at the siege of Siang-yang. Kúblái did not decide to ‘go for’ Manzi, _i.e._ the southern of the two Chinese Empires, until 1273. Bayan did not start until 1274, appearing before Hankow in January 1275. Wuhu and Taiping surrendered in April; then Chinkiang, Kien K’ang (Nanking), and Ning kwoh; the final crushing blow being dealt at Hwai-chan. In March 1276, the Manzi Emperor accepted vassaldom. Kiang-nan was regularly administered in 1278.” (_E. H. Parker, China Review_, xxiv. p. 105.)—H. C.] Siang-yang has been twice visited by Mr. A. Wylie. Just before his first visit (I believe in 1866) a discovery had been made in the city of a quantity of treasure buried at the time of the siege. One of the local officers gave Mr. Wylie one of the copper coins, not indeed in itself of any great rarity, but worth engraving here on account of its connection with the siege commemorated in the text; and a little on the principle of Smith the Weaver’s evidence:—“The bricks are alive at this day to testify of it; therefore deny it not.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] And to the Bern MS. which seems to be a copy of it, as is also I think (in substance) the Bodleian. [2] In this note I am particularly indebted to the researches of the Emperor Napoleon III. on this subject. (_Études sur le passé et l’avenir de l’Artillerie_, 1851.) [3] Thus Joinville mentions the journey of Jehan li Ermin, the king’s artillerist, from Acre to Damascus, _pour acheter cornes et glus pour faire arbalestres_—to buy horns and glue to make crossbows withal (p. 134). In the final defence of Acre (1291) we hear of balistae _bipedales_ (with a forked rest?) and other _vertiginales_ (traversing on a pivot?) that shot 3 quarrels at once, and with such force as to _stitch_ the Saracens to their bucklers—_cum clypeis consutos interfecerunt_. The crossbow, though apparently indigenous among various tribes of Indo-China, seems to have been a new introduction in European warfare in the 12th century. William of Brittany in a poem called the _Philippis_, speaking of the early days of Philip Augustus, says:— “Francigenis nostris illis ignota diebus Res erat omnino quid balistarius arcus, Quid balista foret, nec habebat in agmine toto Rex quenquam sciret armis qui talibus uti.” —_Duchesne, Hist. Franc. Script._, V. 115. Anna Comnena calls it Τζάγρα (which looks like Persian _charkh_), “a barbaric bow, totally unknown to the Greeks”; and she gives a very lengthy description of it, ending: “Such then are the facts about the _Tzagra_, and a truly diabolical affair it is.” (_Alex._ X.—Paris ed. p. 291.) [4] The construction is best seen in Figs. 17 and 19. Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in the cut are from Chinese sources; Figs. 6, 7, 8 from Arabic works; the rest from European sources. [5] Christine de Pisan says that when keeping up a discharge by night lighted brands should be attached to the stones in order to observe and correct the practice. (_Livre des faits_, etc., _du sage Roy Charles_, Pt. II. ch. xxiv.) [6] Professor Sprenger informs me that the first mention of the _Manjanik_ in Mahomedan history is at the siege of Táyif by Mahomed himself, A.D. 630 (and see _Sprenger’s Mohammed_ [German], III. 330). The _Annales Marbacenses_ in _Pertz_, xvii. 172, say under 1212, speaking of wars of the Emperor Otho in Germany: “Ibi tunc cepit haberi usus instrumenti bellici quod vulgo _tribok_ appellari solet.” There is a ludicrous Oriental derivation of Manjanik, from the Persian: “_Man chi nek_!” “How good am I!” Ibn Khallikan remarks that the word must be foreign, because the letters j and ḳ (ج and ق) never occur together in genuine Arabic words (_Notes_ by _Mr. E. Thomas_, F.R.S.). It may be noticed that the letters in question occur together in another Arabic word of foreign origin used by Polo, viz. _Játhalíḳ_. [7] Dufour mentions that stone shot of the mediæval engines exist at Zurich, of 20 and 22 inches diameter. The largest of these would, however, scarcely exceed 500 lbs. in weight. [8] _Georg. Stellae Ann._ in _Muratori_, XVII. 1105; and _Daru_, Bk. viii. § 12. [9] Shaw, _Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages_, vol. i. No 21. CHAPTER LXXI. CONCERNING THE CITY OF SINJU AND THE GREAT RIVER KIAN. You must know that when you leave the city of Yanju, after going 15 miles south-east, you come to a city called SINJU, of no great size, but possessing a very great amount of shipping and trade. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan, and use paper-money.{1} And you must know that this city stands on the greatest river in the world, the name of which is KIAN. It is in some places ten miles wide, in others eight, in others six, and it is more than 100 days’ journey in length from one end to the other. This it is that brings so much trade to the city we are speaking of; for on the waters of that river merchandize is perpetually coming and going, from and to the various parts of the world, enriching the city, and bringing a great revenue to the Great Kaan. And I assure you this river flows so far and traverses so many countries and cities that in good sooth there pass and repass on its waters a great number of vessels, and more wealth and merchandize than on all the rivers and all the seas of Christendom put together! It seems indeed more like a Sea than a River.{2} Messer Marco Polo said that he once beheld at that city 15,000 vessels at one time. And you may judge, if this city, of no great size, has such a number, how many must there be altogether, considering that on the banks of this river there are more than sixteen provinces and more than 200 great cities, besides towns and villages, all possessing vessels? Messer Marco Polo aforesaid tells us that he heard from the officer employed to collect the Great Kaan’s duties on this river that there passed up-stream 200,000 vessels in the year, without counting those that passed down! [Indeed as it has a course of such great length, and receives so many other navigable rivers, it is no wonder that the merchandize which is borne on it is of vast amount and value. And the article in largest quantity of all is salt, which is carried by this river and its branches to all the cities on their banks, and thence to the other cities in the interior.{3}] The vessels which ply on this river are decked. They have but one mast, but they are of great burthen, for I can assure you they carry (reckoning by our weight) from 4000 up to 12,000 cantars each.{4} Now we will quit this matter and I will tell you of another city called CAIJU. But first I must mention a point I had forgotten. You must know that the vessels on this river, in going up-stream have to be tracked, for the current is so strong that they could not make head in any other manner. Now the tow-line, which is some 300 paces in length, is made of nothing but cane. ’Tis in this way: they have those great canes of which I told you before that they are some fifteen paces in length; these they take and split from end to end [into many slender strips], and then they twist these strips together so as to make a rope of any length they please. And the ropes so made are stronger than if they were made of hemp.{5} [There are at many places on this river hills and rocky eminences on which the idol-monasteries and other edifices are built; and you find on its shores a constant succession of villages and inhabited places.{6}] NOTE 1.—The traveller’s diversion from his direct course—_sceloc_ or south-east, as he regards it—towards Fo-kien, in order to notice Ngan-king (as we have supposed) and Siang-yang, has sadly thrown out both the old translators and transcribers, and the modern commentators. Though the G. Text has here “_quant l’en se part de la cité de_ Angui,” I cannot doubt that _Iangui_ (Yanju) is the reading intended, and that Polo here comes back to the main line of his journey. [Illustration: “=Sono sopraquesto fiumein molti luoghi, colline e monticelli sassosi, sopra quali sono edificati monasteri d’Idoli, e altre stanze....=”] I conceive Sinju to be the city which was then called CHÊN-CHAU, but now I-CHING HIEN,[1] and which stands on the Kiang as near as may be 15 miles from Yang-chau. It is indeed south-west instead of south-east, but those who have noted the style of Polo’s orientation will not attach much importance to this. I-ching hien is still the great port of the Yang-chau salt manufacture, for export by the Kiang and its branches to the interior provinces. It communicates with the Grand Canal by two branch canals. Admiral Collinson, in 1842, remarked the great numbers of vessels lying in the creek off I-ching. (See note 1 to ch. lxviii. above; and _J. R. G. S._ XVII. 139.) [“We anchored at a place near the town of _Y-ching-hien_, distinguished by a pagoda. The most remarkable objects that struck us here were some enormously large salt-junks of a very singular shape, approaching to a crescent, with sterns at least thirty feet above the water, and bows that were two-thirds of that height. They had ‘bright sides,’ that is, were varnished over the natural wood without painting, a very common style in China.” (_Davis, Sketches_, II. p. 13.)—H. C.] NOTE 2.—The river is, of course, the Great Kiang or Yang-tzŭ Kiang (already spoken of in ch. xliv. as the _Kiansui_), which Polo was justified in calling the greatest river in the world, whilst the New World was yet hidden. The breadth seems to be a good deal exaggerated, the length not at all. His expressions about it were perhaps accompanied by a mental reference to the term _Dalai_, “The Sea,” which the Mongols appear to have given the river. (See _Fr. Odoric_, p. 121.) The Chinese have a popular saying, “_Haï vu ping, Kiang vu ti_,” “Boundless is the Ocean, bottomless the Kiang!” NOTE 3.—“The assertion that there is a greater amount of tonnage belonging to the Chinese than to all other nations combined, does not appear overcharged to those who have seen the swarms of boats on their rivers, though it might not be found strictly true.” (_Mid. Kingd._ II. 398.) Barrow’s picture of the life, traffic, and population on the Kiang, excepting as to specific numbers, quite bears out Marco’s account. This part of China suffered so long from the wars of the T’ai-P’ing rebellion that to travellers it has presented thirty years ago an aspect sadly belying its old fame. Such havoc is not readily repaired in a few years, nor in a few centuries, but prosperity is reviving, and European navigation is making an important figure on the Kiang. [From the _Returns of Trade for the Year 1900_ of the Imperial Maritime Customs of China, we take the following figures regarding the navigation on the Kiang. Steamers entered inwards and cleared outwards, under General Regulations at _Chung-King_: 1; 331 tons; sailing vessels, 2681; 84,862 tons, of which Chinese, 816; 27,684 tons. At _Ichang_: 314; 231,000 tons, of which Chinese, 118; 66,944 tons; sailing vessels, all Chinese, 5139; 163,320 tons. At _Shasi_: 606; 453,818 tons, of which Chinese, 606; 453,818 tons; no sailing vessels. At _Yochow_: 650; 299,962 tons, of which Chinese, 458; 148,112 tons; no sailing vessels; under Inland Steam Navigation Rules, 280 Chinese vessels, 20,958 tons. At _Hankow_: under General Regulation, Steamers, 2314; 2,101,555 tons, of which Chinese, 758; 462,424 tons; sailing vessels, 1137; 166,118 tons, of which Chinese, 1129; 163,724 tons; under Inland Steam Navigation Rules, 1682 Chinese vessels, 31,173 tons. At _Kiu-Kiang_: under General Regulation, Steamers, 2916; 3,393,514 tons, of which Chinese, 478; 697,468 tons; sailing vessels, 163; 29,996 tons, of which Chinese, 160; 27,797 tons; under Inland Steam Navigation Rules, 798 Chinese vessels; 21,670 tons. At _Wu-hu_: under General Regulation, Steamers, 3395; 3,713,172 tons, of which Chinese, 540; 678,362 tons; sailing vessels, 356; 48,299 tons, of which Chinese, 355; 47,848 tons; under Inland Steam Navigation Rules, 286 Chinese vessels; 4272 tons. At _Nanking_: under General Regulation, Steamers, 1672; 1,138,726 tons, of which Chinese, 970; 713,232 tons; sailing vessels, 290; 36,873 tons, of which Chinese, 281; 34,985 tons; under Inland Steam Navigation Rules, 30 Chinese vessels; 810 tons. At _Chinkiang_: under General Regulation, Steamers, 4710; 4,413,452 tons, of which Chinese, 924; 794,724 tons; sailing vessels, 1793; 294,664 tons, of which Chinese, 1771; 290,286 tons; under Inland Steam Navigation Rules, 2920; 39,346 tons, of which Chinese, 1684; 22,776 tons.—H. C.] NOTE 4.—✛12,000 _cantars_ would be more than 500 tons, and this is justified by the burthen of _Chinese_ vessels on the river; we see it is more than doubled by that of some British or American steamers thereon. In the passage referred to under Note 1, Admiral Collinson speaks of the salt-junks at I-ching as “very remarkable, being built nearly in the form of a crescent, the stern rising in some of them nearly 30 feet and the prow 20, whilst the mast is 90 feet high.” These dimensions imply large capacity. Oliphant speaks of the old rice-junks for the canal traffic as transporting 200 and 300 tons (I. 197). NOTE 5.—The tow-line in river-boats is usually made (as here described) of strips of bamboo twisted. Hawsers are also made of bamboo. Ramusio, in this passage, says the boats are tracked by horses, ten or twelve to each vessel. I do not find this mentioned anywhere else, nor has any traveller in China that I have consulted heard of such a thing. NOTE 6.—Such eminences as are here alluded to are the Little Orphan Rock, Silver Island, and the Golden Island, which is mentioned in the following chapter. We give on the preceding page illustrations of those three picturesque islands; the Orphan Rock at the top, Golden Island in the middle, Silver Island below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] See _Gaubil_, p. 93, note 4; _Biot_, p. 275 [and _Playfair’s Dict._, p. 393]. CHAPTER LXXII. CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIJU. Caiju is a small city towards the south-east. The people are subject to the Great Kaan and have paper-money. It stands upon the river before mentioned.{1} At this place are collected great quantities of corn and rice to be transported to the great city of Cambaluc for the use of the Kaan’s Court; for the grain for the Court all comes from this part of the country. You must understand that the Emperor hath caused a water-communication to be made from this city to Cambaluc, in the shape of a wide and deep channel dug between stream and stream, between lake and lake, forming as it were a great river on which large vessels can ply. And thus there is a communication all the way from this city of Caiju to Cambaluc; so that great vessels with their loads can go the whole way. A land road also exists, for the earth dug from those channels has been thrown up so as to form an embanked road on either side.{2} Just opposite to the city of Caiju, in the middle of the River, there stands a rocky island on which there is an idol-monastery containing some 200 idolatrous friars, and a vast number of idols. And this Abbey holds supremacy over a number of other idol-monasteries, just like an archbishop’s see among Christians.{3} Now we will leave this and cross the river, and I will tell you of a city called Chinghianfu. NOTE 1.—No place in Polo’s travels is better identified by his local indications than this. It is on the Kiang; it is at the extremity of the Great Canal from Cambaluc; it is opposite the Golden Island and Chin-kiang fu. Hence it is KWA-CHAU, as Murray pointed out. Marsden here misunderstands his text, and puts the place on the south side of the Kiang. Here Van Braam notices that there passed in the course of the day more than fifty great rice-boats, most of which could easily carry more than 300,000 lbs. of rice. And Mr. Alabaster, in 1868, speaks of the canal from Yang-chau to Kwa-chau as “full of junks.” [Sir J. F. Davis writes (_Sketches of China_, II. p. 6): “Two ... days ... were occupied in exploring the half-deserted town of _Kwa-chow_, whose name signifies ‘the island of gourds,’ being completely insulated by the river and canal. We took a long walk along the top of the walls, which were as usual of great thickness, and afforded a broad level platform behind the parapet: the parapet itself, about six feet high, did not in thickness exceed the length of a brick and a half, and the embrasures were evidently not constructed for cannon, being much too high. A very considerable portion of the area within the walls consisted of burial-grounds planted with cypress; and this alone was a sufficient proof of the decayed condition of the place, as in modern or fully inhabited cities no person can be buried within the walls. Almost every spot bore traces of ruin, and there appeared to be but one good street in the whole town; this, however, was full of shops, and as busy as Chinese streets always are.”—H. C.] NOTE 2.—Rashiduddin gives the following account of the Grand Canal spoken of in this passage. “The river of Khanbaligh had,” he says, “in the course of time, become so shallow as not to admit the entrance of shipping, so that they had to discharge their cargoes and send them up to Khanbaligh on pack-cattle. And the Chinese engineers and men of science having reported that the vessels from the provinces of Cathay, from Machin, and from the cities of Khingsai and Zaitún, could no longer reach the court, the Kaan gave them orders to dig a great canal into which the waters of the said river, and of several others, should be introduced. This canal extends for a distance of 40 days’ navigation from Khanbaligh to Khingsai and Zaitún, the ports frequented by the ships that come from India, and from the city of Machin (Canton). The canal is provided with many sluices ... and when vessels arrive at these sluices they are hoisted up by means of machinery, whatever be their size, and let down on the other side into the water. The canal has a width of more than 30 ells. Kúblái caused the sides of the embankments to be revetted with stone, in order to prevent the earth giving way. Along the side of the canal runs the high road to Machin, extending for a space of 40 days’ journey, and this has been paved throughout, so that travellers and their animals may get along during the rainy season without sinking in the mud.... Shops, taverns, and villages line the road on both sides, so that dwelling succeeds dwelling without intermission throughout the whole space of 40 days’ journey.” (_Cathay_, 259–260.) The canal appears to have been [begun in 1289 and to have been completed in 1292.—H. C.] though large portions were in use earlier. Its chief object was to provide the capital with food. Pauthier gives the statistics of the transport of rice by this canal from 1283 to the end of Kúblái’s reign, and for some subsequent years up to 1329. In the latter year the quantity reached 3,522,163 _shi_ or 1,247,633 quarters. As the supplies of rice for the capital and for the troops in the Northern Provinces always continued to be drawn from Kiang-nan, the distress and derangement caused by the recent rebel occupation of that province must have been enormous. (_Pauthier_, p. 481–482; _De Mailla_, p. 439.) Polo’s account of the formation of the canal is exceedingly accurate. Compare that given by Mr. Williamson (I. 62). NOTE 3.—“On the Kiang, not far from the mouth, is that remarkably beautiful little island called the ‘Golden Isle,’ surmounted by numerous temples inhabited by the votaries of Buddha or Fo, and very correctly described so many centuries since by Marco Polo.” (_Davis’s Chinese_, I. 149.) The monastery, according to Pauthier, was founded in the 3rd or 4th century, but the name _Kin-Shan_, or “Golden Isle,” dates only from a visit of the Emperor K’ang-hi in 1684. The monastery contained one of the most famous Buddhist libraries in China. This was in the hands of our troops during the first China war, and, as it was intended to remove the books, there was no haste made in examining their contents. Meanwhile peace came, and the library was restored. It is a pity _now_ that the _jus belli_ had not been exercised promptly, for the whole establishment was destroyed by the T’ai-P’ings in 1860, and, with the exception of the Pagoda at the top of the hill, which was left in a dilapidated state, not one stone of the buildings remained upon another. The rock had also then ceased to be an island; and the site of what not many years before had been a channel with four fathoms of water separating it from the southern shore, was covered by flourishing cabbage-gardens. (_Gützlaff_ in _J. R. A. S._ XII. 87; _Mid. Kingd._ I. 84, 86; _Oliphant’s Narrative_, II. 301; _N. and Q. Ch. and Jap._ No. 5, p. 58.) CHAPTER LXXIII. OF THE CITY OF CHINGHIANFU. Chinghianfu is a city of Manzi. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan, and have paper-money, and live by handicrafts and trade. They have plenty of silk, from which they make sundry kinds of stuffs of silk and gold. There are great and wealthy merchants in the place; plenty of game is to be had, and of all kinds of victual. There are in this city two churches of Nestorian Christians which were established in the year of our Lord 1278; and I will tell you how that happened. You see, in the year just named, the Great Kaan sent a Baron of his whose name was MAR SARGHIS, a Nestorian Christian, to be governor of this city for three years. And during the three years that he abode there he caused these two Christian churches to be built, and since then there they are. But before his time there was no church, neither were there any Christians.{1} [Illustration: West Gate of Chin-kiang fu in 1842.] NOTE 1.—CHIN-KIANG FU retains its name unchanged. It is one which became well known in the war of 1842. On its capture on the 21st July in that year, the heroic Manchu commandant seated himself among his records and then set fire to the building, making it his funeral pyre. The city was totally destroyed in the T’ai-P’ing wars, but is rapidly recovering its position as a place of native commerce. [Chên-kiang, “a name which may be translated ‘River Guard,’ stands at the point where the Grand Canal is brought to a junction with the waters of the Yang-tzŭ when the channel of the river proper begins to expand into an extensive tidal estuary.” (_Treaty Ports of China_, p. 421.) It was declared open to foreign trade by the Treaty of Tien-Tsin in 1858.—H. C.] _Mar Sarghis_ (or Dominus Sergius) appears to have been a common name among Armenian and other Oriental Christians. As Pauthier mentions, this very name is one of the names of Nestorian priests inscribed in Syriac on the celebrated monument of Si-ngan fu. [In the description of Chin-kiang quoted by the Archimandrite Palladius (see vol. i. p. 187, note 3), a Christian monastery or temple is mentioned: “The temple _Ta-hing-kuo-sze_ stands in Chin-kiang fu, in the quarter called _Kia-t’ao h’eang_. It was built in the 18th year of _Chi-yuen_ (A.D. 1281) by the _Sub-darugachi, Sie-li-ki-sze_ (Sergius). _Liang Siang_, the teacher in the Confucian school, wrote a commemorative inscription for him.” From this document we see that “_Sie-mi-sze-hien_ (Samarcand) is distant from China 100,000 li (probably a mistake for 10,000) to the north-west. It is a country where the religion of the _Ye-li-k’o-wen_ dominates.... The founder of the religion was called _Ma-rh Ye-li-ya_. He lived and worked miracles a thousand five hundred years ago. _Ma Sie-li-ki-sze_ (Mar Sergius) is a follower of him.” (_Chinese Recorder_, VI. p. 108).—H. C.] From this second mention of _three years_ as a term of government, we may probably gather that this was the usual period for the tenure of such office. (_Mid. Kingd._, I. 86; _Cathay_, p. xciii.) CHAPTER LXXIV. OF THE CITY OF CHINGINJU AND THE SLAUGHTER OF CERTAIN ALANS THERE. Leaving the city of Chinghianfu and travelling three days south-east through a constant succession of busy and thriving towns and villages, you arrive at the great and noble city of CHINGINJU. The people are Idolaters, use paper-money, and are subject to the Great Kaan. They live by trade and handicrafts, and they have plenty of silk. They have also abundance of game, and of all manner of victuals, for it is a most productive territory.{1} Now I must tell you of an evil deed that was done, once upon a time, by the people of this city, and how dearly they paid for it. You see, at the time of the conquest of the great province of Manzi, when Bayan was in command, he sent a company of his troops, consisting of a people called Alans, who are Christians, to take this city.{2} They took it accordingly, and when they had made their way in, they lighted upon some good wine. Of this they drank until they were all drunk, and then they lay down and slept like so many swine. So when night fell, the townspeople, seeing that they were all dead-drunk, fell upon them and slew them all; not a man escaped. And when Bayan heard that the townspeople had thus treacherously slain his men, he sent another Admiral of his with a great force, and stormed the city, and put the whole of the inhabitants to the sword; not a man of them escaped death. And thus the whole population of that city was exterminated.{3} Now we will go on, and I will tell you of another city called Suju. NOTE 1.—Both the position and the story which follows identify this city with CHANG-CHAU. The name is written in Pauthier’s MSS. _Chinginguy_, in the G. T. _Cingiggui_ and _Cinghingui_, in Ramusio _Tinguigui_. The capture of Chang-chau by Gordon’s force, 11th May 1864, was the final achievement of that “Ever Victorious Army.” Regarding the territory here spoken of, once so rich and densely peopled, Mr. Medhurst says, in reference to the effects of the T’ai-P’ing insurrection: “I can conceive of no more melancholy sight than the acres of ground that one passes through strewn with remains of once thriving cities, and the miles upon miles of rich land, once carefully parcelled out into fields and gardens, but now only growing coarse grass and brambles—the home of the pheasant, the deer, and the wild pig.” (_Foreigner in Far Cathay_, p. 94.) NOTE 2.—The relics of the Alans were settled on the northern skirts of the Caucasus, where they made a stout resistance to the Mongols, but eventually became subjects of the Khans of Sarai. The name by which they were usually known in Asia in the Middle Ages was _Aas_, and this name is assigned to them by Carpini, Rubruquis, and Josafat Barbaro, as well as by Ibn Batuta. Mr. Howorth has lately denied the identity of Alans and Aas; but he treats the question as all one with the identity of Alans and Ossethi, which is another matter, as may be seen in Vivien de St. Martin’s elaborate paper on the Alans (_N. Ann. des Voyages_, 1848, tom. 3, p. 129 _seqq._). The Alans are mentioned by the Byzantine historian, Pachymeres, among nations whom the Mongols had assimilated to themselves and adopted into their military service. Gaubil, without being aware of the identity of the _Asu_ (as the name _Aas_ appears to be expressed in the Chinese Annals), beyond the fact that they dwelt somewhere near the Caspian, observes that this people, after they were conquered, furnished many excellent officers to the Mongols; and he mentions also that when the Mongol army was first equipt for the conquest of Southern China, many officers took service therein from among the Uighúrs, Persians, and Arabs, Kincha (people of Kipchak), the _Asu_ and other foreign nations. We find also, at a later period of the Mongol history (1336), letters reaching Pope Benedict XII. from several Christian Alans holding high office at the court of Cambaluc—one of them being a _Chingsang_ or Minister of the First Rank, and another a _Fanchang_ or Minister of the Second Order—in which they conveyed their urgent request for the nomination of an Archbishop in succession to the deceased John of Monte Corvino. John Marignolli speaks of those Alans as “the greatest and noblest nation in the world, the fairest and bravest of men,” and asserts that in his day there were 30,000 of them in the Great Kaan’s service, and all, at least nominally, Christians.[1] Rashiduddin also speaks of the Alans as Christians; though Ibn Batuta certainly mentions the _Aas_ as Mahomedans. We find Alans about the same time (in 1306) fighting well in the service of the Byzantine Emperors (_Muntaner_, p. 449). All these circumstances render Marco’s story of a corps of Christian Alans in the army of Bayan perfectly consistent with probability. (_Carpini_, p. 707; _Rub._, 243; _Ramusio_, II. 92; _I. B._ II. 428; _Gaubil_, 40, 147; _Cathay_, 314 _seqq._) [Mr. Rockhill writes (_Rubruck_, p. 88, note): “The Alans or Aas appear to be identical with the An-ts’ai or A-lan-na of the _Hou Han shu_ (bk. 88, 9), of whom we read that ‘they led a pastoral life N.W. of Sogdiana (K’ang-chü) in a plain bounded by great lakes (or swamps), and in their wanderings went as far as the shores of the Northern Ocean.’ (Ma Twan-lin, bk. 338.) _Pei-shih_ (bk. 97, 12) refers to them under the name of Su-tê and Wen-na-sha (see also _Bretschneider, Med. Geog._, 258, _et seq._). Strabo refers to them under the name of Aorsi, living to the north but contiguous to the Albani, whom some authors confound with them, but whom later Armenian historians carefully distinguish from them (_De Morgan, Mission_, i. 232). Ptolemy speaks of this people as the ‘Scythian Alans’ (Ἀλανοί Σκύθαι); but the first definite mention of them in classical authors is, according to Bunbury (ii. 486), found in Dionysius Periergetes (305), who speaks of the άλκήεντες Ἀλανοί. (See also _De Morgan_, i. 202, and _Deguignes_, ii. 279 _et seq._) “Ammianus Marcellinus (xxxi. 348) says, the Alans were a congeries of tribes living E. of the Tanais (Don), and stretching far into Asia. ‘Distributed over two continents, all these nations, whose various names I refrain from mentioning, though separated by immense tracts of country in which they pass their vagabond existence, have with time been confounded under the generic appellation of Alans.’ Ibn Alathir, at a later date, also refers to the Alans as ‘formed of numerous nations.’ (_Dulaurier_, xiv. 455). “Conquered by the Huns in the latter part of the fourth century, some of the Alans moved westward, others settled on the northern slopes of the Caucasus; though long prior to that, in A.D. 51, they had, as allies of the Georgians, ravaged Armenia. (See _Yule, Cathay_, 316; _Deguignes_, I., pt. ii. 277 _et seq._; and _De Morgan_, I. 217, _et seq._) “Mirkhond, in the _Tarikhi Wassaf_, and other Mohammedan writers speak of the Alans _and_ As. However this may be, it is thought that the Oss or Ossetes of the Caucasus are their modern representatives (_Klaproth, Tabl. hist._, 180; _De Morgan_, i. 202, 231.)” _Aas_ is the transcription of _A-soo_ (_Yuen-shi_, quoted by Devéria, _Notes d’épig._, p. 75). (See _Bretschneider, Med. Res._, II., p. 84.)—H. C.] NOTE 3.—The Chinese histories do not mention the story of the Alans and their fate; but they tell how Chang-chau was first taken by the Mongols about April 1275, and two months later recovered by the Chinese; how Bayan, some months afterwards, attacked it in person, meeting with a desperate resistance; finally, how the place was stormed, and how Bayan ordered the whole of the inhabitants to be put to the sword. Gaubil remarks that some grievous provocation must have been given, as Bayan was far from cruel. Pauthier gives original extracts on the subject, which are interesting. They picture the humane and chivalrous Bayan on this occasion as demoniacal in cruelty, sweeping together all the inhabitants of the suburbs, forcing them to construct his works of attack, and then butchering the whole of them, boiling down their carcasses, and using the fat to grease his mangonels! Perhaps there is some misunderstanding as to the _use_ of this barbarous lubricant. For Carpini relates that the Tartars, when they cast Greek fire into a town, shot with it human fat, for this caused the fire to rage inextinguishably. Cruelties, like Bayan’s on this occasion, if exceptional with him, were common enough among the Mongols generally. Chinghiz, at an early period in his career, after a victory, ordered seventy great caldrons to be heated, and his prisoners to be boiled therein. And the “evil deed” of the citizens of Chang-chau fell far short of Mongol atrocities. Thus Hulaku, suspecting the Turkoman chief Nasiruddin, who had just quitted his camp with 300 men, sent a body of horse after him to cut him off. The Mongol officers told the Turkoman they had been ordered to give him and his men a parting feast; they made them all drunk and then cut their throats. (_Gaubil_, 166, 167, 170; _Carpini_, 696; _Erdmann_, 262; _Quat. Rashid._ 357.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] I must observe here that the learned Professor Bruun has raised doubts whether these Alans of Marignolli’s could be Alans of the Caucasus, and if they were not rather _Ohláns_, _i.e._ Mongol Princes and nobles. There are difficulties certainly about Marignolli’s Alans; but obvious difficulties also in this explanation. CHAPTER LXXV. OF THE NOBLE CITY OF SUJU. Suju is a very great and noble city. The people are Idolaters, subjects of the Great Kaan, and have paper-money. They possess silk in great quantities, from which they make gold brocade and other stuffs, and they live by their manufactures and trade.{1} The city is passing great, and has a circuit of some 60 miles; it hath merchants of great wealth and an incalculable number of people. Indeed, if the men of this city and of the rest of Manzi had but the spirit of soldiers they would conquer the world; but they are no soldiers at all, only accomplished traders and most skilful craftsmen. There are also in this city many philosophers and leeches, diligent students of nature. And you must know that in this city there are 6,000 bridges, all of stone, and so lofty that a galley, or even two galleys at once, could pass underneath one of them.{2} In the mountains belonging to this city, rhubarb and ginger grow in great abundance; insomuch that you may get some 40 pounds of excellent fresh ginger for a Venice groat.{3} And the city has sixteen other great trading cities under its rule. The name of the city, Suju, signifies in our tongue, “Earth,” and that of another near it, of which we shall speak presently, called Kinsay, signifies “Heaven;” and these names are given because of the great splendour of the two cities.{4} Now let us quit Suju, and go on to another which is called VUJU, one day’s journey distant; it is a great and fine city, rife with trade and manufactures. But as there is nothing more to say of it we shall go on and I will tell you of another great and noble city called VUGHIN. The people are Idolaters, &c., and possess much silk and other merchandize, and they are expert traders and craftsmen. Let us now quit Vughin and tell you of another city called CHANGAN, a great and rich place. The people are Idolaters, &c., and they live by trade and manufactures. They make great quantities of sendal of different kinds, and they have much game in the neighbourhood. There is however nothing more to say about the place, so we shall now proceed.{5} NOTE 1.—SUJU is of course the celebrated city of SU-CHAU in Kiang-nan—before the rebellion brought ruin on it, the Paris of China. “Everything remarkable was alleged to come from it; fine pictures, fine carved-work, fine silks, and fine ladies!” (_Fortune_, I. 186.) When the Emperor K’ang-hi visited Su-chau, the citizens laid the streets with carpets and silk stuffs, but the Emperor dismounted and made his train do the like. (_Davis_, I. 186.) [Su-chau is situated 80 miles west of Shang-hai, 12 miles east of the Great Lake, and 40 miles south of the Kiang, in the plain between this river and Hang-chau Bay. It was the capital of the old kingdom of Wu which was independent from the 12th to the 4th centuries (B.C.) inclusive; it was founded by Wu Tzŭ-sü, prime minister of King Hoh Lü (514–496 B.C.), who removed the capital of Wu from Mei-li (near the modern Ch’ang-chau) to the new site now occupied by the city of Su-chau. “Suchau is built in the form of a rectangle, and is about three and a half miles from North to South, by two and a half in breadth, the wall being twelve or thirteen miles in length. There are six gates.” (_Rev. H. C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec._, xix. p. 205.) It has greatly recovered since the T’ai-P’ing rebellion, and its recapture by General (then Major) Gordon on the 27th November 1863; Su-chau has been declared open to foreign trade on the 26th September 1896, under the provisions of the Japanese Treaty of 1895. “The great trade of Soochow is silk. In the silk stores are found about 100 varieties of satin, and 200 kinds of silks and gauzes.... The weavers are divided into two guilds, the Nankin and Suchau, and have together about 7000 looms. Thousands of men and women are engaged in reeling the thread.” (_Rev. H. C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec._, xix. pp. 275–276.)—H. C.] [Illustration: NORTH CITY OF SUCHAU Lit. Frauenfelder, Palermo Reduced to ⅒ the scale from a Rubbing of a PLAN incised on MARBLE A·D·MCCXLVII, & preserved in the GREAT TEMPLE of CONFUCIUS at SUCHAU.] NOTE 2.—I believe we must not bring Marco to book for the literal accuracy of his statements as to the bridges; but all travellers have noticed the number and elegance of the bridges of cut stone in this part of China; see, for instance, _Van Braam_, II. 107, 119–120, 124, 126; and _Deguignes_, I. 47, who gives a particular account of the arches. These are said to be often 50 or 60 feet in span. [“Within the city there are, generally speaking, six canals from North to South, and six canals from East to West, intersecting one another at from a quarter to half a mile. There are a hundred and fifty or two hundred bridges at intervals of two or three hundred yards; some of these with arches, others with stone slabs thrown across, many of which are twenty feet in length. The canals are from ten to fifteen feet wide and faced with stone.” (_Rev. H. C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec._, xix., 1888, p. 207).—H. C.] [Illustration: South-West Gate and Water-Gate of Su-chau; facsimile on half the scale from a mediæval Map, incised on Marble, A.D. 1247.] NOTE 3.—This statement about the abundance of rhubarb in the hills near Su-chau is believed by the most competent authorities to be quite erroneous. Rhubarb _is_ exported from Shang-hai, but it is brought thither from Hankau on the Upper Kiang, and Hankau receives it from the further west. Indeed Mr. Hanbury, in a note on the subject, adds his disbelief also that _ginger_ is produced in Kiang-nan. And I see in the Shang-hai trade-returns of 1865, that there is _no_ ginger among the exports. [Green ginger is mentioned in the Shang-hai Trade Reports for 1900 among the exports (p. 309) to the amount of 18,756 piculs; none is mentioned at Su-chau.—H. C.] Some one, I forget where, has suggested a confusion with Suh-chau in Kan-suh, the great rhubarb mart, which seems possible. [“Polo is correct in giving Tangut as the native country of Rhubarb (_Rheum palmatum_), but no species of Rheum has hitherto been gathered by our botanists as far south as Kiang-Su, indeed, not even in Shan-tung.” (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._, I. p. 5.)—H. C.] NOTE 4.—The meanings ascribed by Polo to the names of Su-chau and King-szé (Hang-chau) show plainly enough that he was ignorant of Chinese. Odoric does not mention Su-chau, but he gives the same explanation of Kinsay as signifying the “City of Heaven,” and Wassáf also in his notice of the same city has an obscure passage about Paradise and Heaven, which is not improbably a corrupted reference to the same interpretation.[1] I suspect therefore that it was a “Vulgar Error” of the foreign residents in China, probably arising out of a misunderstanding of the Chinese adage quoted by Duhalde and Davis:— “_Shang yeu t’ien t’ang, Hia yeu_ SU HANG!” “There’s Paradise above ’tis true, But here below we’ve HANG and SU!” These two neighbouring cities, in the middle of the beautiful tea and silk districts, and with all the advantages of inland navigation and foreign trade, combined every source of wealth and prosperity, and were often thus coupled together by the Chinese. Both are, I believe, now recovering from the effects of devastation by T’ai-P’ing occupation and Imperialist recapture; but neither probably is one-fifth of what it was. The plan of Su-chau which we give is of high interest. It is reduced (⅒ the scale) from a rubbing of a plan of the city incised on marble measuring 6′ 7″ by 4′ 4″, and which has been preserved in the Confucian Temple in Su-chau since A.D. 1247. Marco Polo’s eyes have probably rested on this fine work, comparable to the famous _Pianta Capitolina_. The engraving on page 183 represents one of the gates traced from the rubbing and reduced to _half_ the scale. It is therefore an authentic representation of Chinese fortification in or before the 13th century.[2] [“In the southern part of Su-chau is the park, surrounded by a high wall, which contains the group of buildings called the Confucian Temple. This is the Dragon’s head;—the Dragon Street, running directly North, is his body, and the Great Pagoda is his tail. In front is a grove of cedars. To one side is the hall where thousands of scholars go to worship at the Spring and Autumn Festivals—this for the gentry alone, not for the unlettered populace. There is a building used for the slaughter of animals, another containing a map of the city engraved in stone; a third with tablets and astronomical diagrams, and a fourth containing the Provincial Library. On each side of the large courts are rooms where are placed the tablets of the 500 sages. The main temple is 50 by 70 feet, and contains the tablet of Confucius and a number of gilded boards with mottoes. It is a very imposing structure. On the stone dais in front, a mat-shed is erected for the great sacrifices at which the official magnates exercise their sacerdotal functions. As a tourist beheld the sacred grounds and the aged trees, she said: ‘This is the most venerable-looking place I have seen in China.’ On the gateway in front, the sage is called ‘The Prince of Doctrine in times Past and Present.’” (_Rev. H. C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec._, xix. p. 272).—H. C.] NOTE 5.—The Geographic Text only, at least of the principal Texts, has distinctly the _three_ cities, _Vugui, Vughin, Ciangan_. Pauthier identifies the first and third with HU-CHAU FU and Sung-kiang fu. In favour of Vuju’s being Hu-chau is the fact mentioned by Wilson that the latter city is locally called WUCHU.[3] If this be the place, the Traveller does not seem to be following a direct and consecutive route from Su-chau to Hang-chau. Nor is Hu-chau within a day’s journey of Su-chau. Mr. Kingsmill observes that the only town at that distance is _Wukiang-hien_, once of some little importance but now much reduced. WUKIANG, however, is suggestive of VUGHIN; and, in that supposition, Hu-chau must be considered the object of a digression from which the Traveller returns and takes up his route to Hang-chau _viâ_ Wukiang. _Kiahing_ would then best answer to _Ciangan_, or _Caingan_, as it is written in the following chapter of the G. T. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] See Quatremère’s _Rashid._, p. lxxxvii., and Hammer’s _Wassáf_, p. 42. [2] I owe these valuable illustrations, as so much else, to the unwearied kindness of Mr. A. Wylie. There were originally four maps: (1) _The City_, (2) _The Empire_, (3) _The Heavens_, (4) no longer known. They were drawn originally by one Hwan Kin-shan, and presented by him to a high official in Sze-ch’wan. Wang Che-yuen, subsequently holding office in the same province, got possession of the maps, and had them incised at Su-chau in A.D. 1247. The inscription bearing these particulars is partially gone, and the date of the original drawings remains uncertain. (See _List of Illustrations_.) [3] _The Ever Victorious Army_, p. 395. CHAPTER LXXVI. DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY, WHICH IS THE CAPITAL OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY OF MANZI. When you have left the city of Changan and have travelled for three days through a splendid country, passing a number of towns and villages, you arrive at the most noble city of KINSAY, a name which is as much as to say in our tongue “The City of Heaven,” as I told you before.{1} And since we have got thither I will enter into particulars about its magnificence; and these are well worth the telling, for the city is beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world. In this we shall speak according to the written statement which the Queen of this Realm sent to Bayan the conqueror of the country for transmission to the Great Kaan, in order that he might be aware of the surpassing grandeur of the city and might be moved to save it from destruction or injury. I will tell you all the truth as it was set down in that document. For truth it was, as the said Messer Marco Polo at a later date was able to witness with his own eyes. And now we shall rehearse those particulars. First and foremost, then, the document stated the city of Kinsay to be so great that it hath an hundred miles of compass. And there are in it twelve thousand bridges of stone, for the most part so lofty that a great fleet could pass beneath them. And let no man marvel that there are so many bridges, for you see the whole city stands as it were in the water and surrounded by water, so that a great many bridges are required to give free passage about it. [And though the bridges be so high the approaches are so well contrived that carts and horses do cross them.{2}] The document aforesaid also went on to state that there were in this city twelve guilds of the different crafts, and that each guild had 12,000 houses in the occupation of its workmen. Each of these houses contains at least 12 men, whilst some contain 20 and some 40,—not that these are all masters, but inclusive of the journeymen who work under the masters. And yet all these craftsmen had full occupation, for many other cities of the kingdom are supplied from this city with what they require. The document aforesaid also stated that the number and wealth of the merchants, and the amount of goods that passed through their hands, was so enormous that no man could form a just estimate thereof. And I should have told you with regard to those masters of the different crafts who are at the head of such houses as I have mentioned, that neither they nor their wives ever touch a piece of work with their own hands, but live as nicely and delicately as if they were kings and queens. The wives indeed are most dainty and angelical creatures! Moreover it was an ordinance laid down by the King that every man should follow his father’s business and no other, no matter if he possessed 100,000 bezants.{3} Inside the city there is a Lake which has a compass of some 30 miles: and all round it are erected beautiful palaces and mansions, of the richest and most exquisite structure that you can imagine, belonging to the nobles of the city. There are also on its shores many abbeys and churches of the Idolaters. In the middle of the Lake are two Islands, on each of which stands a rich, beautiful and spacious edifice, furnished in such style as to seem fit for the palace of an Emperor. And when any one of the citizens desired to hold a marriage feast, or to give any other entertainment, it used to be done at one of these palaces. And everything would be found there ready to order, such as silver plate, trenchers, and dishes [napkins and table-cloths], and whatever else was needful. The King made this provision for the gratification of his people, and the place was open to every one who desired to give an entertainment. [Sometimes there would be at these palaces an hundred different parties; some holding a banquet, others celebrating a wedding; and yet all would find good accommodation in the different apartments and pavilions, and that in so well ordered a manner that one party was never in the way of another.{4}] The houses of the city are provided with lofty towers of stone in which articles of value are stored for fear of fire; for most of the houses themselves are of timber, and fires are very frequent in the city. The people are Idolaters; and since they were conquered by the Great Kaan they use paper-money. [Both men and women are fair and comely, and for the most part clothe themselves in silk, so vast is the supply of that material, both from the whole district of Kinsay, and from the imports by traders from other provinces.{5}] And you must know they eat every kind of flesh, even that of dogs and other unclean beasts, which nothing would induce a Christian to eat. Since the Great Kaan occupied the city he has ordained that each of the 12,000 bridges should be provided with a guard of ten men, in case of any disturbance, or of any being so rash as to plot treason or insurrection against him. [Each guard is provided with a hollow instrument of wood and with a metal basin, and with a time-keeper to enable them to know the hour of the day or night. And so when one hour of the night is past the sentry strikes one on the wooden instrument and on the basin, so that the whole quarter of the city is made aware that one hour of the night is gone. At the second hour he gives two strokes, and so on, keeping always wide awake and on the look out. In the morning again, from the sunrise, they begin to count anew, and strike one hour as they did in the night, and so on hour after hour. Part of the watch patrols the quarter, to see if any light or fire is burning after the lawful hours; if they find any they mark the door, and in the morning the owner is summoned before the magistrates, and unless he can plead a good excuse he is punished. Also if they find any one going about the streets at unlawful hours they arrest him, and in the morning they bring him before the magistrates. Likewise if in the daytime they find any poor cripple unable to work for his livelihood, they take him to one of the hospitals, of which there are many, founded by the ancient kings, and endowed with great revenues.{6} Or if he be capable of work they oblige him to take up some trade. If they see that any house has caught fire they immediately beat upon that wooden instrument to give the alarm, and this brings together the watchmen from the other bridges to help to extinguish it, and to save the goods of the merchants or others, either by removing them to the towers above mentioned, or by putting them in boats and transporting them to the islands in the lake. For no citizen dares leave his house at night, or to come near the fire; only those who own the property, and those watchmen who flock to help, of whom there shall come one or two thousand at the least.] Moreover, within the city there is an eminence on which stands a Tower, and at the top of the tower is hung a slab of wood. Whenever fire or any other alarm breaks out in the city a man who stands there with a mallet in his hand beats upon the slab, making a noise that is heard to a great distance. So when the blows upon this slab are heard, everybody is aware that fire has broken out, or that there is some other cause of alarm. The Kaan watches this city with especial diligence because it forms the head of all Manzi; and because he has an immense revenue from the duties levied on the transactions of trade therein, the amount of which is such that no one would credit it on mere hearsay. All the streets of the city are paved with stone or brick, as indeed are all the highways throughout Manzi, so that you ride and travel in every direction without inconvenience. Were it not for this pavement you could not do so, for the country is very low and flat, and after rain ’tis deep in mire and water. [But as the Great Kaan’s couriers could not gallop their horses over the pavement, the side of the road is left unpaved for their convenience. The pavement of the main street of the city also is laid out in two parallel ways of ten paces in width on either side, leaving a space in the middle laid with fine gravel, under which are vaulted drains which convey the rain water into the canals; and thus the road is kept ever dry.]{7} You must know also that the city of Kinsay has some 3000 baths, the water of which is supplied by springs. They are hot baths, and the people take great delight in them, frequenting them several times a month, for they are very cleanly in their persons. They are the finest and largest baths in the world; large enough for 100 persons to bathe together.{8} And the Ocean Sea comes within 25 miles of the city at a place called GANFU, where there is a town and an excellent haven, with a vast amount of shipping which is engaged in the traffic to and from India and other foreign parts, exporting and importing many kinds of wares, by which the city benefits. And a great river flows from the city of Kinsay to that sea-haven, by which vessels can come up to the city itself. This river extends also to other places further inland.{9} Know also that the Great Kaan hath distributed the territory of Manzi into nine parts, which he hath constituted into nine kingdoms. To each of these kingdoms a king is appointed who is subordinate to the Great Kaan, and every year renders the accounts of his kingdom to the fiscal office at the capital.{10} This city of Kinsay is the seat of one of these kings, who rules over 140 great and wealthy cities. For in the whole of this vast country of Manzi there are more than 1200 great and wealthy cities, without counting the towns and villages, which are in great numbers. And you may receive it for certain that in each of those 1200 cities the Great Kaan has a garrison, and that the smallest of such garrisons musters 1000 men; whilst there are some of 10,000, 20,000 and 30,000; so that the total number of troops is something scarcely calculable. The troops forming these garrisons are not all Tartars. Many are from the province of Cathay, and good soldiers too. But you must not suppose they are by any means all of them cavalry; a very large proportion of them are foot-soldiers, according to the special requirements of each city. And all of them belong to the army of the Great Kaan.{11} I repeat that everything appertaining to this city is on so vast a scale, and the Great Kaan’s yearly revenues therefrom are so immense, that it is not easy even to put it in writing, and it seems past belief to one who merely hears it told. But I _will_ write it down for you. First, however, I must mention another thing. The people of this country have a custom, that as soon as a child is born they write down the day and hour and the planet and sign under which its birth has taken place; so that every one among them knows the day of his birth. And when any one intends a journey he goes to the astrologers, and gives the particulars of his nativity in order to learn whether he shall have good luck or no. Sometimes they will say _no_, and in that case the journey is put off till such day as the astrologer may recommend. These astrologers are very skilful at their business, and often their words come to pass, so the people have great faith in them. They burn the bodies of the dead. And when any one dies the friends and relations make a great mourning for the deceased, and clothe themselves in hempen garments,{12} and follow the corpse playing on a variety of instruments and singing hymns to their idols. And when they come to the burning place, they take representations of things cut out of parchment, such as caparisoned horses, male and female slaves, camels, armour suits of cloth of gold (and money), in great quantities, and these things they put on the fire along with the corpse, so that they are all burnt with it. And they tell you that the dead man shall have all these slaves and animals of which the effigies are burnt, alive in flesh and blood, and the money in gold, at his disposal in the next world; and that the instruments which they have caused to be played at his funeral, and the idol hymns that have been chaunted, shall also be produced again to welcome him in the next world; and that the idols themselves will come to do him honour.{13} Furthermore there exists in this city the palace of the king who fled, him who was Emperor of Manzi, and that is the greatest palace in the world, as I shall tell you more particularly. For you must know its demesne hath a compass of ten miles, all enclosed with lofty battlemented walls; and inside the walls are the finest and most delectable gardens upon earth, and filled too with the finest fruits. There are numerous fountains in it also, and lakes full of fish. In the middle is the palace itself, a great and splendid building. It contains 20 great and handsome halls, one of which is more spacious than the rest, and affords room for a vast multitude to dine. It is all painted in gold, with many histories and representations of beasts and birds, of knights and dames, and many marvellous things. It forms a really magnificent spectacle, for over all the walls and all the ceiling you see nothing but paintings in gold. And besides these halls the palace contains 1000 large and handsome chambers, all painted in gold and divers colours. Moreover, I must tell you that in this city there are 160 _tomans_ of fires, or in other words 160 _tomans_ of houses. Now I should tell you that the _toman_ is 10,000, so that you can reckon the total as altogether 1,600,000 houses, among which are a great number of rich palaces. There is one church only, belonging to the Nestorian Christians. There is another thing I must tell you. It is the custom for every burgess of this city, and in fact for every description of person in it, to write over his door his own name, the name of his wife, and those of his children, his slaves, and all the inmates of his house, and also the number of animals that he keeps. And if any one dies in the house then the name of that person is erased, and if any child is born its name is added. So in this way the sovereign is able to know exactly the population of the city. And this is the practice also throughout all Manzi and Cathay.{14} [Illustration: HANG-CHAU-FU with The LAKE compiled from various Chinese Sources. Lit. Frauenfelder, Palermo Plan of the City of SI-NGAN-FU Reduced from one published under the MONGOL DYNASTY _(See Book II. Chap.XLI.)_ “la très nobilissime cité de Quinsay sans faille la plus noble cité et la meillor qe soit au monde.”] And I must tell you that every hosteler who keeps an hostel for travellers is bound to register their names and surnames, as well as the day and month of their arrival and departure. And thus the sovereign hath the means of knowing, whenever it pleases him, who come and go throughout his dominions. And certes this is a wise order and a provident. NOTE 1.—KINSAY represents closely enough the Chinese term _King-sze_, “capital,” which was then applied to the great city, the proper name of which was at that time Lin-ngan and is now HANG-CHAU, as being since 1127 the capital of the Sung Dynasty. The same term _King-sze_ is now on Chinese maps generally used to designate Peking. It would seem, however, that the term adhered long as a quasi-proper name to Hang-chau; for in the Chinese Atlas, dating from 1595, which the traveller Carletti presented to the Magliabecchian Library, that city appears to be still marked with this name, transcribed by Carletti as _Camse_; very near the form _Campsay_ used by Marignolli in the 14th century. [Illustration: The ancient Lun-ho-ta Pagoda at Hang-chau.] NOTE 2.—✛The Ramusian version says: “Messer Marco Polo was frequently at this city, and took great pains to learn everything about it, writing down the whole in his notes.” The information being originally derived from a Chinese document, there might be some ground for supposing that 100 miles of circuit stood for 100 _li_. Yet the circuit of the modern city is stated in the official book called _Hang-chau Fu-Chi_, or topographical history of Hang-chau, at only 35 _li_. And the earliest record of the wall, as built under the Sui by Yang-su (before A.D. 606), makes its extent little more (36 _li_ and 90 paces.)[1] But the wall was reconstructed by Ts’ien Kiao, feudal prince of the region, during the reign of Chao Tsung, one of the last emperors of the T’ang Dynasty (892), so as to embrace the Luh-ho-ta Pagoda, on a high bluff over the Tsien-tang River,[2] 15 _li_ distant from the present south gate, and had then a circuit of 70 _li_. Moreover, in 1159, after the city became the capital of the Sung emperors, some further extension was given to it, so that, even exclusive of the suburbs, the circuit of the city may have been not far short of 100 _li_. When the city was in its glory under the Sung, the Luh-ho-ta Pagoda may be taken as marking the extreme S.W. Another known point marks approximately the chief north gate of that period, at a mile and a half or two miles beyond the present north wall. The S.E. angle was apparently near the river bank. But, on the other hand, the _waist_ of the city seems to have been a good deal narrower than it now is. Old descriptions compare its form to that of a slender-waisted drum (dice-box or hour-glass shape). Under the Mongols the walls were allowed to decay; and in the disturbed years that closed that dynasty (1341–1368) they were rebuilt by an insurgent chief on a greatly reduced compass, probably that which they still retain. Whatever may have been the facts, and whatever the origin of the estimate, I imagine that the ascription of 100 miles of circuit to Kinsay had become popular among Westerns. Odoric makes the same statement. Wassáf calls it 24 parasangs, which will not be far short of the same amount. Ibn Batuta calls the _length_ of the city three days’ journey. Rashiduddin says the enceinte had a _diameter_ of 11 parasangs, and that there were three post stages between the two extremities of the city, which is probably what Ibn Batuta had heard. The _Masálak-al-Absár_ calls it _one_ day’s journey in length, and half a day’s journey in breadth. The enthusiastic Jesuit Martini tries hard to justify Polo in this as in other points of his description. We shall quote the whole of his remarks at the end of the chapters on Kinsay. [Dr. F. Hirth, in a paper published in the _T’oung Pao_, V. pp. 386–390 (_Ueber den Schiffsverkehr von Kinsay zu Marco Polo’s Zeit_), has some interesting notes on the maritime trade of Hang-chau, collected from a work in twenty books, kept at the Berlin Royal Library, in which is to be found a description of Hang-chau under the title of _Mêng-liang-lu_, published in 1274 by Wu Tzu-mu, himself a native of this city: there are various classes of sea-going vessels; large boats measuring 5000 _liao_ and carrying from five to six hundred passengers; smaller boats measuring from 2 to 1000 _liao_ and carrying from two to three hundred passengers; there are small fast boats called _tsuan-fêng_, “wind breaker,” with six or eight oarsmen, which can carry easily 100 passengers, and are generally used for fishing; sampans are not taken into account. To start for foreign countries one must embark at Ts’wan-chau, and then go to the sea of Ts’i-chau (Paracels), through the Tai-hsü pass; coming back he must look to Kwen-lun (Pulo Condor).—H. C.] The 12,000 bridges have been much carped at, and modern accounts of Hang-chau (desperately meagre as they are) do not speak of its bridges as notable. “There is, indeed,” says Mr. Kingsmill, speaking of changes in the hydrography about Hang-chau, “no trace in the city of the magnificent canals and bridges described by Marco Polo.” The number was no doubt in this case also a mere popular saw, and Friar Odoric repeats it. The sober and veracious John Marignolli, alluding apparently to their statements, and perhaps to others which have not reached us, says: “When authors tell of its ten thousand noble bridges of stone, adorned with sculptures and statues of armed princes, it passes the belief of one who has not been there, and yet peradventure these authors tell us no lie.” Wassáf speaks of 360 bridges only, but they make up in size what they lack in number, for they cross canals as big as the Tigris! Marsden aptly quotes in reference to this point excessively loose and discrepant statements from modern authors as to the number of bridges in Venice. The great _height_ of the arches of the canal bridges in this part of China is especially noticed by travellers. Barrow, quoted by Marsden, says: “Some have the piers of such an extraordinary height that the largest vessels of 200 tons sail under them without striking their masts.” [Illustration: Plan of the Imperial City of Hangchow in the 13th Century. (From the Notes of the Right Rev. G. E. Moule.) 1–17, Gates; 18, _Ta-nuy_; 19, _Woo-Foo_; 20, _T’aï Miao_; 21, _Fung-hwang shan_; 22, _Shĭh fŭh she_; 23, _Fan t’ien she_; 24, _Koo-shing Kwo she_.] Mr. Moule has added up the lists of bridges in the whole department (or _Fu_) and found them to amount to 848, and many of these even are now unknown, their approximate sites being given from ancient topographies. The number _represented_ in a large modern map of the city, which I owe to Mr. Moule’s kindness, is 111. NOTE 3.—Though Rubruquis (p. 292) says much the same thing, there is little trace of such an ordinance in modern China. Père Parrenin observes: “As to the hereditary perpetuation of trades, it has never existed in China. On the contrary, very few Chinese will learn the trade of their fathers; and it is only necessity that ever constrains them to do so.” (_Lett. Edif._ XXIV. 40.) Mr. Moule remarks, however, that P. Parrenin is a little too absolute. Certain trades do run in families, even of the free classes of Chinese, not to mention the disfranchised boatmen, barbers, chair-coolies, etc. But, except in the latter cases, there is no compulsion, though the Sacred Edict goes to encourage the perpetuation of the family calling. NOTE 4.—This sheet of water is the celebrated SI-HU, or “Western Lake,” the fame of which had reached Abulfeda, and which has raised the enthusiasm even of modern travellers, such as Barrow and Van Braam. The latter speaks of _three_ islands (and this the Chinese maps confirm), on each of which were several villas, and of causeways across the lake, paved and bordered with trees, and provided with numerous bridges for the passage of boats. Barrow gives a bright description of the lake, with its thousands of gay, gilt, and painted pleasure boats, its margins studded with light and fanciful buildings, its gardens of choice flowering shrubs, its monuments, and beautiful variety of scenery. None surpasses that of Martini, whom it is always pleasant to quote, but here he is too lengthy. The most recent description that I have met with is that of Mr. C. Gardner, and it is as enthusiastic as any. It concludes: “Even to us foreigners ... the spot is one of peculiar attraction, but to the Chinese it is as a paradise.” The Emperor K’ien Lung had erected a palace on one of the islands in the lake; it was ruined by the T’ai-P’ings. Many of the constructions about the lake date from the flourishing days of the T’ang Dynasty, the 7th and 8th centuries. Polo’s ascription of a circumference of 30 miles to the lake, corroborates the supposition that in the compass of the city a confusion had been made between miles and _li_, for Semedo gives the circuit of the lake really as 30 _li_. Probably the document to which Marco refers at the beginning of the chapter was seen by him in a Persian translation, in which _li_ had been rendered by _míl_. A Persian work of the same age, quoted by Quatremère (the _Nuzhát al-Ḳulúb_), gives the circuit of the lake as six parasangs, or some 24 miles, a statement which probably had a like origin. Polo says the lake was _within_ the city. This might be merely a loose way of speaking, but it may on the other hand be a further indication of the former existence of an extensive outer wall. The Persian author just quoted also speaks of the lake as within the city. (_Barrow’s Autobiog._, p. 104; _V. Braam_, II. 154; _Gardner_ in _Proc. of the R. Geog. Soc._, vol. xiii. p. 178; _Q. Rashid_, p. lxxxviii.) Mr. Moule states that popular oral tradition does enclose the lake within the walls, but he can find no trace of this in the Topographies. Elsewhere Mr. Moule says: “Of the luxury of the (Sung) period, and its devotion to pleasure, evidence occurs everywhere. Hang-chow went at the time by the nickname of the melting-pot for money. The use, at houses of entertainment, of _linen and silver plate_ appears somewhat out of keeping in a Chinese picture. I cannot vouch for the linen, but here is the plate.... ‘The most famous Tea-houses of the day were the _Pa-seen_ (“8 genii”), the “Pure Delight,” the “Pearl,” the “House of the Pwan Family,” and the “Two and Two” and “Three and Three” houses (perhaps rather “Double honours” and “Treble honours”). In these places they always set out bouquets of fresh flowers, according to the season.... At the counter were sold “Precious thunder Tea,” Tea of fritters and onions, or else Pickle broth; and in hot weather wine of snow bubbles and apricot blossom, or other kinds of refrigerating liquor. _Saucers, ladles, and bowls were all of pure, silver_!’ (_Si-Hu-Chi_.)” [Illustration: Plan of the Metropolitan City of Hangchow in the 13th Century. (From the Notes of the Right Rev. G. E. Moule.) 1–17, Gates; 18, _Ta-nuy_, Central Palace; 19, _Woo-Foo_, The Five Courts; 20, _T’aï Miao_, The Imperial Temple; 21, _Fung-hwang shan_, Phœnix Hill; 22, _Shĭh fŭh she_, Monastery of the Sacred Fruit; 25–30, Gates; 31, _T’ien tsung yen tsang_, T’ien tsung Salt Depot; 2, _T’ien tsung tsew koo_, T’ien tsung Wine Store; 33, _Chang she_, The Chang Monastery; 34, _Foo che_, Prefecture; _Foo hio_, Prefectural Confucian Temple.] NOTE 5.—This is still the case: “The people of Hang-chow dress gaily, and are remarkable among the Chinese for their dandyism. All, except the lowest labourers and coolies, strutted about in dresses composed of silk, satin, and crape.... ‘Indeed’ (said the Chinese servants) ‘one can never tell a rich man in Hang-chow, for it is just possible that all he possesses in the world is on his back.’” (_Fortune_, II. 20.) “The silk manufactures of Hang-chau are said to give employment to 60,000 persons within the city walls, and Hu-chau, Kia-hing, and the surrounding villages, are reputed to employ 100,000 more.” (_Ningpo Trade Report_, January 1869, comm. by Mr. N. B. Dennys.) The store-towers, as a precaution in case of fire, are still common both in China and Japan. NOTE 6.—Mr. Gardner found in this very city, in 1868, a large collection of cottages covering several acres, which were “erected, after the taking of the city from the rebels, by a Chinese charitable society for the refuge of the blind, sick, and infirm.” This asylum sheltered 200 blind men with their families, amounting to 800 souls; basket-making and such work was provided for them; there were also 1200 other inmates, aged and infirm; and doctors were maintained to look after them. “None are allowed to be absolutely idle, but all help towards their own sustenance.” (_Proc. R. G. Soc._ XIII. 176–177.) Mr. Moule, whilst abating somewhat from the colouring of this description, admits the establishment to be a considerable charitable effort. It existed before the rebellion, as I see in the book of Mr. Milne, who gives interesting details on such Chinese charities. (_Life in China_, pp. 46 _seqq._) NOTE 7.—The paved roads of Manzi are by no means extinct yet. Thus, Mr. Fortune, starting from Chang-shan (see below, ch. lxxix.) in the direction of the Black-Tea mountains, says: “The road on which we were travelling was well paved with granite, about 12 feet in width, and perfectly free from weeds.” (II. 148). Garnier, Sladen, and Richthofen speak of well-paved roads in Yun-Nan and Sze-ch’wan. The Topography quoted by Mr. Moule says that in the year 1272 the Governor renewed the pavement of the Imperial road (or Main Street), “after which nine cars might move abreast over a way perfectly smooth, and straight as an arrow.” In the Mongol time the people were allowed to encroach on this grand street. NOTE 8.—There is a curious discrepancy in the account of these baths. Pauthier’s text does not say whether they are hot baths or cold. The latter sentence, beginning, “They are hot baths” (_estuves_), is from the G. Text. And Ramusio’s account is quite different: “There are numerous baths of cold water, provided with plenty of attendants, male and female, to assist the visitors of the two sexes in the bath. For the people are used from their childhood to bathe in cold water at all seasons, and they reckon it a very wholesome custom. But in the bath-houses they have also certain chambers furnished with hot water, for foreigners who are unaccustomed to cold bathing, and cannot bear it. The people are used to bathe daily, and do not eat without having done so.” This is in contradiction with the notorious Chinese horror of cold water for any purpose. A note from Mr. C. Gardner says: “There are numerous public baths at Hang-chau, as at every Chinese city I have ever been in. In my experience natives always take _hot_ baths. But only the poorer classes go to the public baths; the tradespeople and middle classes are generally supplied by the bath-houses with hot water at a moderate charge.” NOTE 9.—The estuary of the Ts’ien T’ang, or river of Hang-chau, has undergone great changes since Polo’s day. The sea now comes up much nearer the city; and the upper part of the Bay of Hang-chau is believed to cover what was once the site of the port and town of KANP’U, the Ganpu of the text. A modern representative of the name still subsists, a walled town, and one of the depôts for the salt which is so extensively manufactured on this coast; but the present port of Hang-chau, and till recently the sole seat of Chinese trade with Japan, is at _Chapu_, some 20 miles further seaward. It is supposed by Klaproth that KANP’U was the port frequented by the early Arab voyagers, and of which they speak under the name of _Khánfú_, confounding in their details Hang-chau itself with the port. Neumann dissents from this, maintaining that the Khanfu of the Arabs was certainly Canton. Abulfeda, however, states expressly that Khanfu was known in his day as _Khansá_ (_i.e._ Kinsay), and he speaks of its lake of fresh water called _Sikhu_ (Si-hu). [Abulfeda has in fact two Khânqû (Khanfû): Khansâ with the lake which is Kinsay, and one Khanfû which is probably Canton. (See _Guyard’s transl._, II., ii., 122–124.)—H. C.] There seems to be an indication in Chinese records that a southern branch of the Great Kiang once entered the sea at Kanp’u; the closing of it is assigned to the 7th century, or a little later. [Dr. F. Hirth writes (_Jour. Roy. As. Soc._, 1896, pp. 68–69): “For centuries Canton must have been the only channel through which foreign trade was permitted; for it is not before the year 999 that we read of the appointment of Inspectors of Trade at Hang-chou and Ming-chou. The latter name is identified with Ning-po.” Dr. Hirth adds in a note: “This is in my opinion the principal reason why the port of _Khanfu_, mentioned by the earliest Muhammadan travellers, or authors (Soleiman, Abu Zeid, and Maçoudi), cannot be identified with Hang-chou. The report of Soleiman, who first speaks of _Khanfu_, was written in 851, and in those days Canton was apparently the only port open to foreign trade. Marco Polo’s _Ganfu_ is a different port altogether, viz. _Kan-fu_, or _Kan-pu_, near Hang-chou, and should not be confounded with _Khanfu_.”—H. C.] The changes of the Great Kiang do not seem to have attracted so much attention among the Chinese as those of the dangerous Hwang-Ho, nor does their history seem to have been so carefully recorded. But a paper of great interest on the subject was published by Mr. Edkins, in the _Journal of the North China Branch of the R. A. S._ for September 1860 [pp. 77–84], which I know only by an abstract given by the late Comte d’Escayrac de Lauture. From this it would seem that about the time of our era the Yang-tzŭ Kiang had three great mouths. The most southerly of these was the Che-Kiang, which is said to have given its name to the Province still so called, of which Hang-chau is the capital. This branch quitted the present channel at Chi-chau, passed by Ning-Kwé and Kwang-té, communicating with the southern end of a great group of lakes which occupied the position of the T’ai-Hu, and so by Shih-men and T’ang-si into the sea not far from Shao-hing. The second branch quitted the main channel at Wu-hu, passed by I-hing (or I-shin) communicating with the northern end of the T’ai-Hu (passed apparently by Su-chau), and then bifurcated, one arm entering the sea at Wu-sung, and the other at Kanp’u. The third, or northerly branch is that which forms the present channel of the Great Kiang. These branches are represented hypothetically on the sketch-map attached to ch. lxiv. _supra_. (_Kingsmill_, u.s. p. 53; _Chin. Repos._ III. 118; _Middle Kingdom_, I. 95–106; _Bürck._ p. 483; _Cathay_, p. cxciii.; _J. N. Ch. Br. R. A. S._, December 1865, p. 3 _seqq._; _Escayrac de Lauture, Mém. sur la Chine, H. du Sol_, p. 114.) NOTE 10.—Pauthier’s text has: “_Chascun Roy fait chascun an le compte de son royaume aux comptes du grant siège_,” where I suspect the last word is again a mistake for _sing_ or _scieng_. (See _supra_, Bk. II. ch. xxv., note 1.) It is interesting to find Polo applying the term _king_ to the viceroys who ruled the great provinces; Ibn Batuta uses a corresponding expression, _sultán_. It is not easy to make out the nine kingdoms or great provinces into which Polo considered Manzi to be divided. Perhaps his _nine_ is after all merely a traditional number, for the “Nine Provinces” was an ancient synonym for China proper, just as _Nau-Khanda_, with like meaning, was an ancient name of India. (See _Cathay_, p. cxxxix. _note_; and _Reinaud, Inde_, p. 116.) But I observe that on the portage road between Chang-shan and Yuh-shan (_infra_, p. 222) there are stone pillars inscribed “Highway (from Che-kiang) to Eight Provinces,” thus indicating Nine. (_Milne_, p. 319.) NOTE 11.—We have in Ramusio: “The men levied in the province of Manzi are not placed in garrison in their own cities, but sent to others at least 20 days’ journey from their homes; and there they serve for four or five years, after which they are relieved. This applies both to the Cathayans and to those of Manzi. “The great bulk of the revenue of the cities, which enters the exchequer of the Great Kaan, is expended in maintaining these garrisons. And if perchance any city rebel (as you often find that under a kind of madness or intoxication they rise and murder their governors), as soon as it is known, the adjoining cities despatch such large forces from their garrisons that the rebellion is entirely crushed. For it would be too long an affair if troops from Cathay had to be waited for, involving perhaps a delay of two months.” NOTE 12.—“The sons of the dead, wearing hempen clothes as badges of mourning, kneel down,” etc. (_Doolittle_, p. 138.) NOTE 13.—These practices have been noticed, _supra_, Bk. I. ch. xl. NOTE 14.—This custom has come down to modern times. In Pauthier’s _Chine Moderne_, we find extracts from the statutes of the reigning dynasty and the comments thereon, of which a passage runs thus: “To determine the exact population of each province the governor and the lieutenant-governor cause certain persons who are nominated as _Pao-kia_, or Tithing-Men, in all the places under their jurisdiction, to add up the figures inscribed on the wooden tickets attached to the doors of houses, and exhibiting the number of the inmates” (p. 167). Friar Odoric calls the number of fires 89 _tomans_; but says 10 or 12 households would unite to have one fire only! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] In the first edition, my best authority on this matter was a lecture on the city by the late Rev. D. D. Green, an American Missionary at Ningpo, which is printed in the November and December numbers for 1869 of the (Fuchau) _Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal_. In the present (second) edition I have on this, and other points embraced in this and the following chapters, benefited largely by the remarks of the Right Rev. G. E. Moule of the Ch. Mission. Soc., now residing at Hang-chau. These are partly contained in a paper (_Notes on Colonel Yule’s Edition of Marco Polo’s ‘Quinsay’_) read before the North China Branch of the R. A. Soc. at Shang-hai in December 1873 [published in New Series, No. IX. of the _Journal N. C. B. R. A. Soc._], of which a proof has been most kindly sent to me by Mr. Moule, and partly in a special communication, both forwarded through Mr. A. Wylie. [See also _Notes on Hangchow Past and Present_, a paper read in 1889 by Bishop G. E. Moule at a Meeting of the Hangchau Missionary Association, at whose request it was compiled, and subsequently printed for private circulation.—H. C.] [2] The building of the present Luh-ho-ta (“Six Harmonies Tower”), after repeated destructions by fire, is recorded on a fine tablet of the Sung period, still standing (_Moule_). CHAPTER LXXVII. [FURTHER PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY.{1}] [The position of the city is such that it has on one side a lake of fresh and exquisitely clear water (already spoken of), and on the other a very large river. The waters of the latter fill a number of canals of all sizes which run through the different quarters of the city, carry away all impurities, and then enter the Lake; whence they issue again and flow to the Ocean, thus producing a most excellent atmosphere. By means of these channels, as well as by the streets, you can go all about the city. Both streets and canals are so wide and spacious that carts on the one and boats on the other can readily pass to and fro, conveying necessary supplies to the inhabitants.{2} At the opposite side the city is shut in by a channel, perhaps 40 miles in length, very wide, and full of water derived from the river aforesaid, which was made by the ancient kings of the country in order to relieve the river when flooding its banks. This serves also as a defence to the city, and the earth dug from it has been thrown inwards, forming a kind of mound enclosing the city.{3} In this part are the ten principal markets, though besides these there are a vast number of others in the different parts of the town. The former are all squares of half a mile to the side, and along their front passes the main street, which is 40 paces in width, and runs straight from end to end of the city, crossing many bridges of easy and commodious approach. At every four miles of its length comes one of those great squares of 2 miles (as we have mentioned) in compass. So also parallel to this great street, but at the back of the market places, there runs a very large canal, on the bank of which towards the squares are built great houses of stone, in which the merchants from India and other foreign parts store their wares, to be handy for the markets. In each of the squares is held a market three days in the week, frequented by 40,000 or 50,000 persons, who bring thither for sale every possible necessary of life, so that there is always an ample supply of every kind of meat and game, as of roebuck, red-deer, fallow-deer, hares, rabbits, partridges, pheasants, francolins, quails, fowls, capons, and of ducks and geese an infinite quantity; for so many are bred on the Lake that for a Venice groat of silver you can have a couple of geese and two couple of ducks. Then there are the shambles where the larger animals are slaughtered, such as calves, beeves, kids, and lambs, the flesh of which is eaten by the rich and the great dignitaries.{4} Those markets make a daily display of every kind of vegetables and fruits; and among the latter there are in particular certain pears of enormous size, weighing as much as ten pounds apiece, and the pulp of which is white and fragrant like a confection; besides peaches in their season both yellow and white, of every delicate flavour.{5} Neither grapes nor wine are produced there, but very good raisins are brought from abroad, and wine likewise. The natives, however, do not much care about wine, being used to that kind of their own made from rice and spices. From the Ocean Sea also come daily supplies of fish in great quantity, brought 25 miles up the river, and there is also great store of fish from the lake, which is the constant resort of fishermen, who have no other business. Their fish is of sundry kinds, changing with the season; and, owing to the impurities of the city which pass into the lake, it is remarkably fat and savoury. Any one who should see the supply of fish in the market would suppose it impossible that such a quantity could ever be sold; and yet in a few hours the whole shall be cleared away; so great is the number of inhabitants who are accustomed to delicate living. Indeed they eat fish and flesh at the same meal. All the ten market places are encompassed by lofty houses, and below these are shops where all sorts of crafts are carried on, and all sorts of wares are on sale, including spices and jewels and pearls. Some of these shops are entirely devoted to the sale of wine made from rice and spices, which is constantly made fresh and fresh, and is sold very cheap. Certain of the streets are occupied by the women of the town, who are in such a number that I dare not say what it is. They are found not only in the vicinity of the market places, where usually a quarter is assigned to them, but all over the city. They exhibit themselves splendidly attired and abundantly perfumed, in finely garnished houses, with trains of waiting-women. These women are extremely accomplished in all the arts of allurement, and readily adapt their conversation to all sorts of persons, insomuch that strangers who have once tasted their attractions seem to get bewitched, and are so taken with their blandishments and their fascinating ways that they never can get these out of their heads. Hence it comes to pass that when they return home they say they have been to Kinsay or the City of Heaven, and their only desire is to get back thither as soon as possible.{6} Other streets are occupied by the Physicians, and by the Astrologers, who are also teachers of reading and writing; and an infinity of other professions have their places round about those squares. In each of the squares there are two great palaces facing one another, in which are established the officers appointed by the King to decide differences arising between merchants, or other inhabitants of the quarter. It is the daily duty of these officers to see that the guards are at their posts on the neighbouring bridges, and to punish them at their discretion if they are absent. All along the main street that we have spoken of, as running from end to end of the city, both sides are lined with houses and great palaces and the gardens pertaining to them, whilst in the intervals are the houses of tradesmen engaged in their different crafts. The crowd of people that you meet here at all hours, passing this way and that on their different errands, is so vast that no one would believe it possible that victuals enough could be provided for their consumption, unless they should see how, on every market-day, all those squares are thronged and crammed with purchasers, and with the traders who have brought in stores of provisions by land or water; and everything they bring in is disposed of. To give you an example of the vast consumption in this city let us take the article of _pepper_; and that will enable you in some measure to estimate what must be the quantity of victual, such as meat, wine, groceries, which have to be provided for the general consumption. Now Messer Marco heard it stated by one of the Great Kaan’s officers of customs that the quantity of pepper introduced daily for consumption into the city of Kinsay amounted to 43 loads, each load being equal to 223 lbs.{7} The houses of the citizens are well built and elaborately finished; and the delight they take in decoration, in painting and in architecture, leads them to spend in this way sums of money that would astonish you. The natives of the city are men of peaceful character, both from education and from the example of their kings, whose disposition was the same. They know nothing of handling arms, and keep none in their houses. You hear of no feuds or noisy quarrels or dissensions of any kind among them. Both in their commercial dealings and in their manufactures they are thoroughly honest and truthful, and there is such a degree of good will and neighbourly attachment among both men and women that you would take the people who live in the same street to be all one family.{8} And this familiar intimacy is free from all jealousy or suspicion of the conduct of their women. These they treat with the greatest respect, and a man who should presume to make loose proposals to a married woman would be regarded as an infamous rascal. They also treat the foreigners who visit them for the sake of trade with great cordiality, and entertain them in the most winning manner, affording them every help and advice on their business. But on the other hand they hate to see soldiers, and not least those of the Great Kaan’s garrisons, regarding them as the cause of their having lost their native kings and lords. On the Lake of which we have spoken there are numbers of boats and barges of all sizes for parties of pleasure. These will hold 10, 15, 20, or more persons, and are from 15 to 20 paces in length, with flat bottoms and ample breadth of beam, so that they always keep their trim. Any one who desires to go a-pleasuring with the women, or with a party of his own sex, hires one of these barges, which are always to be found completely furnished with tables and chairs and all the other apparatus for a feast. The roof forms a level deck, on which the crew stand, and pole the boat along whithersoever may be desired, for the Lake is not more than 2 paces in depth. The inside of this roof and the rest of the interior is covered with ornamental painting in gay colours, with windows all round that can be shut or opened, so that the party at table can enjoy all the beauty and variety of the prospects on both sides as they pass along. And truly a trip on this Lake is a much more charming recreation than can be enjoyed on land. For on the one side lies the city in its entire length, so that the spectators in the barges, from the distance at which they stand, take in the whole prospect in its full beauty and grandeur, with its numberless palaces, temples, monasteries, and gardens, full of lofty trees, sloping to the shore. And the Lake is never without a number of other such boats, laden with pleasure parties; for it is the great delight of the citizens here, after they have disposed of the day’s business, to pass the afternoon in enjoyment with the ladies of their families, or perhaps with others less reputable, either in these barges or in driving about the city in carriages.{9} Of these latter we must also say something, for they afford one mode of recreation to the citizens in going about the town, as the boats afford another in going about the Lake. In the main street of the city you meet an infinite succession of these carriages passing to and fro. They are long covered vehicles, fitted with curtains and cushions, and affording room for six persons; and they are in constant request for ladies and gentlemen going on parties of pleasure. In these they drive to certain gardens, where they are entertained by the owners in pavilions erected on purpose, and there they divert themselves the livelong day, with their ladies, returning home in the evening in those same carriages.{10} (FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE PALACE OF THE KING FACFUR.) The whole enclosure of the Palace was divided into three parts. The middle one was entered by a very lofty gate, on each side of which there stood on the ground-level vast pavilions, the roofs of which were sustained by columns painted and wrought in gold and the finest azure. Opposite the gate stood the chief Pavilion, larger than the rest, and painted in like style, with gilded columns, and a ceiling wrought in splendid gilded sculpture, whilst the walls were artfully painted with the stories of departed kings. On certain days, sacred to his gods, the King Facfur[1] used to hold a great court and give a feast to his chief lords, dignitaries, and rich manufacturers of the city of Kinsay. On such occasions those pavilions used to give ample accommodation for 10,000 persons sitting at table. This court lasted for ten or twelve days, and exhibited an astonishing and incredible spectacle in the magnificence of the guests, all clothed in silk and gold, with a profusion of precious stones; for they tried to outdo each other in the splendour and richness of their appointments. Behind this great Pavilion that faced the great gate, there was a wall with a passage in it shutting off the inner part of the Palace. On entering this you found another great edifice in the form of a cloister surrounded by a portico with columns, from which opened a variety of apartments for the King and the Queen, adorned like the outer walls with such elaborate work as we have mentioned. From the cloister again you passed into a covered corridor, six paces in width, of great length, and extending to the margin of the lake. On either side of this corridor were ten courts, in the form of oblong cloisters surrounded by colonnades; and in each cloister or court were fifty chambers with gardens to each. In these chambers were quartered one thousand young ladies in the service of the King. The King would sometimes go with the Queen and some of these maidens to take his diversion on the Lake, or to visit the Idol-temples, in boats all canopied with silk. The other two parts of the enclosure were distributed in groves, and lakes, and charming gardens planted with fruit-trees, and preserves for all sorts of animals, such as roe, red-deer, fallow-deer, hares, and rabbits. Here the King used to take his pleasure in company with those damsels of his; some in carriages, some on horseback, whilst no man was permitted to enter. Sometimes the King would set the girls a-coursing after the game with dogs, and when they were tired they would hie to the groves that overhung the lakes, and leaving their clothes there they would come forth naked and enter the water and swim about hither and thither, whilst it was the King’s delight to watch them; and then all would return home. Sometimes the King would have his dinner carried to those groves, which were dense with lofty trees, and there would be waited on by those young ladies. And thus he passed his life in this constant dalliance with women, without so much as knowing what _arms_ meant! And the result of all this cowardice and effeminacy was that he lost his dominion to the Great Kaan in that base and shameful way that you have heard.{11} All this account was given me by a very rich merchant of Kinsay when I was in that city. He was a very old man, and had been in familiar intimacy with the King Facfur, and knew the whole history of his life; and having seen the Palace in its glory was pleased to be my guide over it. As it is occupied by the King appointed by the Great Kaan, the first pavilions are still maintained as they used to be, but the apartments of the ladies are all gone to ruin and can only just be traced. So also the wall that enclosed the groves and gardens is fallen down, and neither trees nor animals are there any longer.{12}] NOTE 1.—I have, after some consideration, followed the example of Mr. H. Murray, in his edition of _Marco Polo_, in collecting together in a separate chapter a number of additional particulars concerning the Great City, which are only found in Ramusio. Such of these as could be interpolated in the text of the older form of the narrative have been introduced between brackets in the last chapter. Here I bring together those particulars which could not be so interpolated without taking liberties with one or both texts. The picture in Ramusio, taken as a whole, is so much more brilliant, interesting, and complete than in the older texts, that I thought of substituting it entirely for the other. But so much doubt and difficulty hangs over _some_ passages of the Ramusian version that I could not satisfy myself of the propriety of this, though I feel that the dismemberment inflicted on that version is also objectionable. NOTE 2.—The tides in the Hang-chau estuary are now so furious, entering in the form of a bore, and running sometimes, by Admiral Collinson’s measurement, 11½ knots, that it has been necessary to close by weirs the communication which formerly existed between the River Tsien-tang on the one side and the Lake Si-hu and internal waters of the district on the other. Thus all cargoes are passed through the small city canal in barges, and are subject to transhipment at the river-bank, and at the great canal terminus outside the north gate, respectively. Mr. Kingsmill, to whose notices I am indebted for part of this information, is, however, mistaken in supposing that in Polo’s time the tide stopped some 20 miles below the city. We have seen (note 6, ch. lxv. _supra_) that the tide in the river before Kinsay was the object which first attracted the attention of Bayan, after his triumphant entrance into the city. The tides reach Fuyang, 20 miles higher. (_N. and Q., China and Japan_, vol. I. p. 53; _Mid. Kingd._ I. 95, 106; _J. N. Ch. Br. R. A. S._, December, 1865, p. 6; _Milne_, p. 295; _Note_ by _Mr. Moule_). [Miss E. Scidmore writes (_China_, p. 294): “There are only three wonders of the world in China—The Demons at Tungchow, the Thunder at Lungchow, and the Great Tide at Hangchow, the last, the greatest of all, and a living wonder to this day of ‘the open door,’ while its rivals are lost in myth and oblivion.... The Great Bore charges up the narrowing river at a speed of ten and thirteen miles an hour, with a roar that can be heard for an hour before it arrives.”—H. C.] NOTE 3.—For satisfactory elucidation as to what is or may have been authentic in these statements, we shall have to wait for a correct survey of Hang-chau and its neighbourhood. We have already seen strong reason to suppose that _miles_ have been substituted for _li_ in the circuits assigned both to the city and to the lake, and we are yet more strongly impressed with the conviction that the same substitution has been made here in regard to the canal on the east of the city, as well as the streets and market-places spoken of in the next paragraph. Chinese plans of Hang-chau do show a large canal encircling the city on the east and north, _i.e._, on the sides away from the lake. In some of them this is represented like a ditch to the rampart, but in others it is more detached. And the position of the main street, with its parallel canal, does answer fairly to the account in the next paragraph, setting aside the extravagant dimensions. The existence of the squares or market-places is alluded to by Wassáf in a passage that we shall quote below; and the _Masálak-al-Absár_ speaks of the main street running from end to end of the city. On this Mr. Moule says: “I have found no certain account of market-squares, though the _Fang_,[2] of which a few still exist, and a very large number are laid down in the Sung Map, mainly grouped along the chief street, may perhaps represent them.... The names of some of these (_Fang_) and of the _Sze_ or markets still remain.” Mr. Wylie sent Sir Henry Yule a tracing of the figures mentioned in the footnote; it is worth while to append them, at least in _diagram_. No. 1. No 2. No 3. ++ ++ ++ ╔═══╦═════╦═══╗ ╔═══╦═══╗ ╔═══════════╗ ║ ║ _a_ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╠═══╬═════╬═══╣ +╠═══╬═══╣+ +╠═══════════╣+ ║ ║ _b_ ║ ║ +║ ║ ║+ +║ ║+ ╠═══╬═════╬═══╣ ╚═══╩═══╝ ╚═══════════╝ ║ ║ _c_ ║ ║ ++ ╚═══╩═════╩═══╝ ++ ++ No. 1. Plan of a _Fang_ or Square. No. 2. „ „ in the South of the Imperial City of Si-ngan fu. No. 3. Arrangement of Two-Fang Square, with four streets and 8 gates. _a_. The Market place. _b_. The Official Establishment. _c_. Office for regulating Weights. Compare Polo’s statement that in each of the squares at Kinsay, where the markets were held, there were two great Palaces facing one another, in which were established the officers who decided differences between merchants, etc. The double lines represent streets, and the ‡ are gates. NOTE 4.—There is no mention of _pork_, the characteristic animal food of China, and the only one specified by Friar Odoric in his account of the same city. Probably Mark may have got a little _Saracenized_ among the Mahomedans at the Kaan’s Court, and doubted if ’twere good manners to mention it. It is perhaps a relic of the same feeling, gendered by Saracen rule, that in Sicily pigs are called _i neri_. “The larger game, red-deer and fallow-deer, is now never seen for sale. Hog-deer, wild-swine, pheasants, water-fowl, and every description of ‘vermin’ and small birds, are exposed for sale, not now in markets, but at the retail wine shops. Wild-cats, racoons, otters, badgers, kites, owls, etc., etc., festoon the shop fronts along with game.” (_Moule_.) NOTE 5.—Van Braam, in passing through Shan-tung Province, speaks of very large pears. “The colour is a beautiful golden yellow. Before it is pared the pear is somewhat hard, but in eating it the juice flows, the pulp melts, and the taste is pleasant enough.” Williams says these Shan-tung pears are largely exported, but he is not so complimentary to them as Polo: “The pears are large and juicy, sometimes weighing 8 or 10 pounds, but remarkably tasteless and coarse.” (_V. Braam_, II. 33–34; _Mid. Kingd._, I. 78 and II. 44). In the beginning of 1867 I saw pears in Covent Garden Market which I should guess to have weighed 7 or 8 lbs. each. They were priced at 18 guineas a dozen! [“Large pears are nowadays produced in Shan-tung and Manchuria, but they are rather tasteless and coarse. I am inclined to suppose that Polo’s large pears were Chinese quinces, _Cydonia chinensis_, Thouin, this fruit being of enormous size, sometimes one foot long, and very fragrant. The Chinese use it for sweet-meats.” (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 2.)—H. C.] As regards the “yellow and white” peaches, Marsden supposes the former to be apricots. Two kinds of peach, correctly so described, are indeed common in Sicily, where I write;—and both are, in their raw state, equally good food for _i neri_! But I see Mr. Moule also identifies the yellow peach with “the _hwang-mei_ or clingstone apricot,” as he knows no yellow peach in China. NOTE 6.—“_E non veggono mai l’ora che di nuovo possano ritornarvi;_” a curious Italian idiom. (See _Vocab. It. Univ._ sub. v. “_vedere_”.) NOTE 7.—It would seem that the habits of the Chinese in reference to the use of pepper and such spices have changed. Besides this passage, implying that their consumption of pepper was large, Marco tells us below (ch. lxxxii.) that for one shipload of pepper carried to Alexandria for the consumption of Christendom, a hundred went to Zayton in Manzi. At the present day, according to Williams, the Chinese use little spice; pepper chiefly as a febrifuge in the shape of _pepper-tea_, and that even less than they did some years ago. (See p. 239, _infra_, and _Mid. Kingd._, II. 46, 408.) On this, however, Mr. Moule observes: “Pepper is not so completely relegated to the doctors. A month or two ago, passing a portable cookshop in the city, I heard a girl-purchaser cry to the cook, ‘Be sure you put in _pepper and leeks!_’” NOTE 8.—Marsden, after referring to the ingenious frauds commonly related of Chinese traders, observes: “In the long continued intercourse that has subsisted between the agents of the European companies and the more eminent of the Chinese merchants ... complaints on the ground of commercial unfairness have been extremely rare, and on the contrary, their transactions have been marked with the most perfect good faith and mutual confidence.” Mr. Consul Medhurst bears similar strong testimony to the upright dealings of Chinese merchants. His remark that, as a rule, he has found that the Chinese deteriorate by intimacy with foreigners is worthy of notice;[3] it is a remark capable of application wherever the East and West come into habitual contact. Favourable opinions among the nations on their frontiers of Chinese dealing, as expressed to Wood and Burnes in Turkestan, and to Macleod and Richardson in Laos, have been quoted by me elsewhere in reference to the old classical reputation of the Seres for integrity. Indeed, Marco’s whole account of the people here might pass for an expanded paraphrase of the Latin commonplaces regarding the Seres. Mr. Milne, a missionary for many years in China, stands up manfully against the wholesale disparagement or Chinese character (p. 401). NOTE 9.—Semedo and Martini, in the 17th century, give a very similar account of the Lake Si-hu, the parties of pleasure frequenting it, and their gay barges. (_Semedo_, pp. 20–21; _Mart._ p. 9.) But here is a Chinese picture of the very thing described by Marco, under the Sung Dynasty: “When Yaou Shunming was Prefect of Hangchow, there was an old woman, who said she was formerly a singing-girl, and in the service of Tung-p’o Seen-sheng.[4] She related that her master, whenever he found a leisure day in spring, would invite friends to take their pleasure on the lake. They used to take an early meal on some agreeable spot, and, the repast over, a chief was chosen for the company of each barge, who called a number of dancing-girls to follow them to any place they chose. As the day waned a gong sounded to assemble all once more at ‘Lake Prospect Chambers,’ or at the ‘Bamboo Pavilion,’ or some place of the kind, where they amused themselves to the top of their bent, and then, at the first or second drum, before the evening market dispersed, returned home by candle-light. In the city, gentlemen and ladies assembled in crowds, lining the way to see the return of the thousand Knights. It must have been a brave spectacle of that time.” (_Moule_, from the _Si-hu-Chi_, or “Topography of the West Lake.”) It is evident, from what Mr. Moule says, that this book abounds in interesting illustration of these two chapters of Polo. Barges with paddle-wheels are alluded to. NOTE 10.—Public carriages are still used in the great cities of the north, such as Peking. Possibly this is a revival. At one time carriages appear to have been much more general in China than they were afterwards, or are now. Semedo says they were abandoned in China just about the time that they were adopted in Europe, viz. in the 16th century. And this disuse seems to have been either cause or effect of the neglect of the roads, of which so high an account is given in old times. (_Semedo; N. and Q. Ch. and Jap._ I. 94.) Deguignes describes the public carriages of Peking, as “shaped like a palankin, but of a longer form, with a rounded top, lined outside and in with coarse blue cloth, and provided with black cushions” (I. 372). This corresponds with our author’s description, and with a drawing by Alexander among his published sketches. The present Peking cab is evidently the same vehicle, but smaller. NOTE 11.—The character of the King of Manzi here given corresponds to that which the Chinese histories assign to the Emperor Tu-Tsong, in whose time Kúblái commenced his enterprise against Southern China, but who died two years before the fall of the capital. He is described as given up to wine and women, and indifferent to all public business, which he committed to unworthy ministers. The following words, quoted by Mr. Moule from the _Hang-Chau Fu-Chi_, are like an echo of Marco’s: “In those days the dynasty was holding on to a mere corner of the realm, hardly able to defend even that; and nevertheless all, high and low, devoted themselves to dress and ornament, to music and dancing on the lake and amongst the hills, with no idea of sympathy for the country.” A garden called Tseu-king (“of many prospects”) near the Tsing-po Gate, and a monastery west of the lake, near the Lingin, are mentioned as pleasure haunts of the Sung Kings. NOTE 12.—The statement that the palace of Kingszé was occupied by the Great Kaan’s lieutenant seems to be inconsistent with the notice in De Mailla that Kúblái made it over to the Buddhist priests. Perhaps _Kúblái’s_ name is a mistake; for one of Mr. Moule’s books (_Jin-ho-hien-chi_) says that under _the last_ Mongol Emperor five convents were built on the area of the palace. Mr. H. Murray argues, from this closing passage especially, that Marco never could have been the author of the Ramusian interpolations; but with this I cannot agree. Did this passage stand alone we might doubt if it were Marco’s; but the interpolations must be considered as a whole. Many of them bear to my mind clear evidence of being his own, and I do not see that the present one _may_ not be his. The picture conveyed of the ruined walls and half-obliterated buildings does, it is true, give the impression of a long interval between their abandonment and the traveller’s visit, whilst the whole interval between the capture of the city and Polo’s departure from China was not more than fifteen or sixteen years. But this is too vague a basis for theorising. Mr. Moule has ascertained by maps of the Sung period, and by a variety of notices in the Topographies, that the palace lay to the south and south-east of the present city, and included a large part of the fine hills called _Fung-hwang Shan_ or Phœnix Mount,[5] and other names, whilst its southern gate opened near the Ts’ien-T’ang River. Its north gate is supposed to have been the Fung Shan Gate of the present city, and the chief street thus formed the avenue to the palace. [Illustration: Stone _Chwang_, or Umbrella Column, on site of “Brahma’s Temple,” Hang-chau.] By the kindness of Messrs. Moule and Wylie, I am able to give a copy of the Sung Map of the Palace (for origin of which see list of illustrations). I should note that the orientation is different from that of the map of the city already given. This map elucidates Polo’s account of the palace in a highly interesting manner. [Father H. Havret has given in p. 21 of _Variétés Sinologiques_, No. 19, a complete study of the inscription of a _chwang_, nearly similar to the one given here, which is erected near Ch’êng-tu.—H. C.] Before quitting KINSAY, the description of which forms the most striking feature in Polo’s account of China, it is worth while to quote other notices from authors of nearly the same age. However exaggerated some of these may be, there can be little doubt that it was the greatest city then existing in the world. _Friar Odoric_ (in China about 1324–1327):—“Departing thence I came unto the city of CANSAY, a name which signifieth the ‘City of Heaven.’ And ’tis the greatest city in the whole world, so great indeed that I should scarcely venture to tell of it, but that I have met at Venice people in plenty who have been there. It is a good hundred miles in compass, and there is not in it a span of ground which is not well peopled. And many a tenement is there which shall have 10 or 12 households comprised in it. And there be also great suburbs which contain a greater population than even the city itself.... This city is situated upon lagoons of standing water, with canals like the city of Venice. And it hath more than 12,000 bridges, on each of which are stationed guards, guarding the city on behalf of the Great Kaan. And at the side of this city there flows a river near which it is built, like Ferrara by the Po, for it is longer than it is broad,” and so on, relating how his host took him to see a great monastery of the idolaters, where there was a garden full of grottoes, and therein many animals of divers kinds, which they believed to be inhabited by the souls of gentlemen. “But if any one should desire to tell all the vastness and great marvels of this city, a good quire of stationery would not hold the matter, I trow. For ’tis the greatest and noblest city, and the finest for merchandize that the whole world containeth.” (_Cathay_, 113 _seqq._) [Illustration: South Part of KING-SZÉ with the SUNG PALACE, from a Chinese reprint of a Plan dated circa A.D. 1270. Lit. Frauenfelder, Palermo] _The Archbishop of Soltania_ (_circa_ 1330):—“And so vast is the number of people that the soldiers alone who are posted to keep ward in the city of Cambalec are 40,000 men by sure tale. And in the city of CASSAY there be yet more, for its people is greater in number, seeing that it is a city of very great trade. And to this city all the traders of the country come to trade; and greatly it aboundeth in all manner of merchandize.” (_Ib._ 244–245.) _John Marignolli_ (in China 1342–1347):—“Now Manzi is a country which has countless cities and nations included in it, past all belief to one who has not seen them.... And among the rest is that most famous city of CAMPSAY, the finest, the biggest, the richest, the most populous, and altogether the most marvellous city, the city of the greatest wealth and luxury, of the most splendid buildings (especially idol-temples, in some of which there are 1000 and 2000 monks dwelling together), that exists now upon the face of the earth, or mayhap that ever did exist.” (_Ib._ p. 354.) He also speaks, like Odoric, of the “cloister at Campsay, in that most famous monastery where they keep so many monstrous animals, which they believe to be the souls of the departed” (384). Perhaps this monastery may yet be identified. Odoric calls it _Thebe_. [See _A. Vissière, Bul. Soc. Géog. Com._, 1901, pp. 112–113.—H. C.] Turning now to Asiatic writers, we begin with _Wassáf_ (A.D. 1300):— “KHANZAI is the greatest city of the cities of Chín, “‘_Stretching like Paradise through the breadth of Heaven._’ “Its shape is oblong, and the measurement of its perimeter is about 24 parasangs. Its streets are paved with burnt brick and with stone. The public edifices and the houses are built of wood, and adorned with a profusion of paintings of exquisite elegance. Between one end of the city and the other there are three _Yams_ (post-stations) established. The length of the chief streets is three parasangs, and the city contains 64 quadrangles corresponding to one another in structure, and with parallel ranges of columns. The salt excise brings in daily 700 _balish_ in paper-money. The number of craftsmen is so great that 32,000 are employed at the dyer’s art alone; from that fact you may estimate the rest. There are in the city 70 _tomans_ of soldiers and 70 _tomans_ of _rayats_, whose number is registered in the books of the Dewán. There are 700 churches (_Kalísíá_) resembling fortresses, and every one of them overflowing with presbyters without faith, and monks without religion, besides other officials, wardens, servants of the idols, and this, that, and the other, to tell the names of which would surpass number and space. All these are exempt from taxes of every kind. Four _tomans_ of the garrison constitute the night patrol.... Amid the city there are 360 bridges erected over canals ample as the Tigris, which are ramifications of the great river of Chín; and different kinds of vessels and ferry-boats, adapted to every class, ply upon the waters in such numbers as to pass all powers of enumeration.... The concourse of all kinds of foreigners from the four quarters of the world, such as the calls of trade and travel bring together in a kingdom like this, may easily be conceived.” (_Revised on Hammer’s Translation_, pp. 42–43.) The Persian work _Nuzhát-al-Ḳulúb_:—“KHINZAI is the capital of the country of Máchín. If one may believe what some travellers say, there exists no greater city on the face of the earth; but anyhow, all agree that it is the greatest in all the countries in the East. Inside the place is a lake which has a circuit of six parasangs, and all round which houses are built.... The population is so numerous that the watchmen are some 10,000 in number.” (_Quat. Rash._ p. lxxxviii.) The Arabic work _Masálak-al-Absár_:—“Two routes lead from Khanbalik to KHINSÁ, one by land, the other by water; and either way takes 40 days. The city of Khinsá extends a whole day’s journey in length and half a day’s journey in breadth. In the middle of it is a street which runs right from one end to the other. The streets and squares are all paved; the houses are five-storied (?), and are built with planks nailed together,” etc. (_Ibid._) _Ibn Batuta_:—“We arrived at the city of KHANSÁ.... This city is the greatest I have ever seen on the surface of the earth. It is three days’ journey in length, so that a traveller passing through the city has to make his marches and his halts!... It is subdivided into six towns, each of which has a separate enclosure, while one great wall surrounds the whole,” etc. (_Cathay_, p. 496 _seqq._) Let us conclude with a writer of a later age, the worthy Jesuit Martin Martini, the author of the admirable _Atlas Sinensis_, one whose honourable zeal to maintain Polo’s veracity, of which he was one of the first intelligent advocates, is apt, it must be confessed, a little to colour his own spectacles:—“That the cosmographers of Europe may no longer make such ridiculous errors as to the QUINSAI of Marco Polo, I will here give you the very place. [He then explains the name.] ... And to come to the point; this is the very city that hath those bridges so lofty and so numberless, both within the walls and in the suburbs; nor will they fall much short of the 10,000 which the Venetian alleges, if you count also the triumphal arches among the bridges, as he might easily do because of their analogous structure, just as he calls tigers _lions_; ... or if you will, he may have meant to include not merely the bridges in the city and suburbs, but in the whole of the dependent territory. In that case indeed the number which Europeans find it so hard to believe might well be set still higher, so vast is everywhere the number of bridges and of triumphal arches. Another point in confirmation is that lake which he mentions of 40 Italian miles in circuit. This exists under the name of _Si-hu_; it is not, indeed, as the book says, inside the walls, but lies in contact with them for a long distance on the west and south-west, and a number of canals drawn from it _do_ enter the city. Moreover, the shores of the lake on every side are so thickly studded with temples, monasteries, palaces, museums, and private houses, that you would suppose yourself to be passing through the midst of a great city rather than a country scene. Quays of cut stone are built along the banks, affording a spacious promenade; and causeways cross the lake itself, furnished with lofty bridges, to allow of the passage of boats; and thus you can readily walk all about the lake on this side and on that. ’Tis no wonder that Polo considered it to be part of the city. This, too, is the very city that hath within the walls, near the south side, a hill called _Ching-hoang_ [6] on which stands that tower with the watchmen, on which there is a clepsydra to measure the hours, and where each hour is announced by the exhibition of a placard, with gilt letters of a foot and a half in height. This is the very city the streets of which are paved with squared stones: the city which lies in a swampy situation, and is intersected by a number of navigable canals; this, in short, is the city from which the emperor escaped to seaward by the great river Ts’ien-T’ang, the breadth of which exceeds a German mile, flowing on the south of the city, exactly corresponding to the river described by the Venetian at Quinsai, and flowing eastward to the sea, which it enters precisely at the distance which he mentions. I will add that the compass of the city will be 100 Italian miles and more, if you include its vast suburbs, which run out on every side an enormous distance; insomuch that you may walk for 50 Chinese _li_ in a straight line from north to south, the whole way through crowded blocks of houses, and without encountering a spot that is not full of dwellings and full of people; whilst from east to west you can do very nearly the same thing.” (_Atlas Sinensis_, p. 99.) And so we quit what Mr. Moule appropriately calls “Marco’s famous rhapsody of the Manzi capital”; perhaps the most striking section of the whole book, as manifestly the subject was that which had made the strongest impression on the narrator. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] _Fanfur_, in Ramusio. [2] See the mention of the _I-ning Fang_ at Si-ngan fu, _supra_, p. 28. Mr. Wylie writes that in a work on the latter city, published during the Yuen time, of which he has met with a reprint, there are figures to illustrate the division of the city into _Fang_, a word “which appears to indicate a certain space of ground, not an open square ... but a block of buildings crossed by streets, and at the end of each street an open gateway.” In one of the figures a first reference indicates “the market place,” a second “the official establishment,” a third “the office for regulating weights.” These indications seem to explain Polo’s squares. (See Note 3, above.) [3] _Foreigner in Far Cathay_, pp. 158, 176. [4] A famous poet and scholar of the 11th century. [5] Mr. Wylie, after ascending this hill with Mr. Moule, writes: “It is about two miles from the south gate to the top, by a rather steep road. On the top is a remarkably level plot of ground, with a cluster of rocks in one place. On the face of these rocks are a great many inscriptions, but so obliterated by age and weather that only a few characters can be decyphered. A stone road leads up from the city gate, and another one, very steep, down to the lake. This is the only vestige remaining of the old palace grounds. There is no doubt about this being really a relic of the palace.... You will see on the map, just inside the walls of the Imperial city, the Temple of Brahma. There are still two stone columns standing with curious Buddhist inscriptions.... Although the temple is entirely gone, these columns retain the name and mark the place. They date from the 6th century, and there are few structures earlier in China.” One is engraved above, after a sketch by Mr. Moule. [6] See the plan of the city with last chapter. CHAPTER LXXVIII. TREATING OF THE GREAT YEARLY REVENUE THAT THE GREAT KAAN HATH FROM KINSAY. Now I will tell you about the great revenue which the Great Kaan draweth every year from the said city of Kinsay and its territory, forming a ninth part of the whole country of Manzi. First there is the salt, which brings in a great revenue. For it produces every year, in round numbers, fourscore _tomans_ of gold; and the _toman_ is worth 70,000 _saggi_ of gold, so that the total value of the fourscore tomans will be five millions and six hundred thousand _saggi_ of gold, each saggio being worth more than a gold florin or ducat; in sooth, a vast sum of money! [This province, you see, adjoins the ocean, on the shores of which are many lagoons or salt marshes, in which the sea-water dries up during the summer time; and thence they extract such a quantity of salt as suffices for the supply of five of the kingdoms of Manzi besides this one.] Having told you of the revenue from salt, I will now tell you of that which accrues to the Great Kaan from the duties on merchandize and other matters. You must know that in this city and its dependencies they make great quantities of sugar, as indeed they do in the other eight divisions of this country; so that I believe the whole of the rest of the world together does not produce such a quantity, at least, if that be true which many people have told me; and the sugar alone again produces an enormous revenue.—However, I will not repeat the duties on every article separately, but tell you how they go in the lump. Well, all spicery pays three and a third per cent. on the value; and all merchandize likewise pays three and a third per cent. [But sea-borne goods from India and other distant countries pay ten per cent.] The rice-wine also makes a great return, and coals, of which there is a great quantity; and so do the twelve guilds of craftsmen that I told you of, with their 12,000 stations apiece, for every article they make pays duty. And the silk which is produced in such abundance makes an immense return. But why should I make a long story of it? The silk, you must know, pays ten per cent., and many other articles also pay ten per cent. And you must know that Messer Marco Polo, who relates all this, was several times sent by the Great Kaan to inspect the amount of his customs and revenue from this ninth part of Manzi,{1} and he found it to be, exclusive of the salt revenue which we have mentioned already, 210 _tomans_ of gold, equivalent to 14,700,000 _saggi_ of gold; one of the most enormous revenues that ever was heard of. And if the sovereign has such a revenue from one-ninth part of the country, you may judge what he must have from the whole of it! However, to speak the truth, this part is the greatest and most productive; and because of the great revenue that the Great Kaan derives from it, it is his favourite province, and he takes all the more care to watch it well, and to keep the people contented.{2} Now we will quit this city and speak of others. NOTE 1.—Pauthier’s text seems to be the only one which says that Marco was sent by the Great Kaan. The G. Text says merely: “_Si qe jeo March Pol qe plusor foies hoï faire le conte de la rende de tous cestes couses_,”—“had several times heard the calculations made.” NOTE 2.—_Toman_ is 10,000. And the first question that occurs in considering the statements of this chapter is as to the unit of these tomans, as intended by Polo. I believe it to have been the _tael_ (or Chinese ounce) of gold. We do not know that the Chinese ever made monetary calculations in gold. But the usual unit of the revenue accounts appears from Pauthier’s extracts to have been the _ting_, _i.e._ a money of account equal to ten taels of silver, and we know (_supra_, ch. l. note 4) that this was in those days the exact equivalent of one tael of gold. The equation in our text is 10,000 _x_ = 70,000 saggi of gold, giving _x_, or the unit sought, = 7 _saggi_. But in both Ramusio on the one hand, and in the Geog. Latin and Crusca Italian texts on the other hand, the equivalent of the toman is 80,000 _saggi_; though it is true that neither with one valuation nor the other are the calculations consistent in any of the texts, except Ramusio’s.[1] This consistency does not give any greater weight to Ramusio’s reading, because we know that version to have been _edited_, and corrected when the editor thought it necessary: but I adopt his valuation, because we shall find other grounds for preferring it. The unit of the _toman_ then is = 8 _saggi_. The Venice saggio was one-sixth of a Venice ounce. The Venice mark of 8 ounces I find stated to contain 3681 grains troy;[2] hence the _saggio_ = 76 grains. But I imagine the term to be used by Polo here and in other Oriental computations, to express the Arabic _misḳál_, the real weight of which, according to Mr. Maskelyne, is 74 grains troy. The _misḳál_ of gold was, as Polo says, something more than a ducat or sequin, indeed, weight for weight, it was to a ducat nearly as 1·4:1. Eight _saggi_ or _misḳáls_ would be 592 grains troy. The tael is 580, and the approximation is as near as we can reasonably expect from a calculation in such terms. Taking the silver tael at 6_s._ 7_d._, the gold tael, or rather the _ting_, would be = 3_l._ 5_s._ 10_d._; the _toman_ = 32,916_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._; and the whole salt revenue (80 tomans) = 2,633,333_l._; the revenue from other sources (210 tomans) = 6,912,500_l._; total revenue from Kinsay and its province (290 tomans) = 9,545,833_l._ A sufficiently startling statement, and quite enough to account for the sobriquet of Marco Milioni. Pauthier, in reference to this chapter, brings forward a number of extracts regarding Mongol finance from the official history of that dynasty. The extracts are extremely interesting in themselves, but I cannot find in them that confirmation of Marco’s accuracy which M. Pauthier sees. First as to the salt revenue of Kiang-Ché, or the province of Kinsay. The facts given by Pauthier amount to these: that in 1277, the year in which the Mongol salt department was organised, the manufacture of salt amounted to 92,148 _yin_, or 22,115,520 _kilos._; in 1286 it had reached 450,000 _yin_, or 108,000,000 _kilos._; in 1289 it fell off by 100,000 _yin_. The price was, in 1277, 18 _liang_ or taels, in _chao_ or paper-money of the years 1260–64 (see vol. i. p. 426); in 1282 it was raised to 22 taels; in 1284 a permanent and reduced price was fixed, the amount of which is not stated. M. Pauthier assumes as a mean 400,000 _yin_, at 18 taels, which will give 7,200,000 _taels_; or, at 6_s._ 7_d._ to the tael, 2,370,000_l._ But this amount being in _chao_ or paper-currency, which at its highest valuation was worth only 50 per cent. of the nominal value of the notes, we must _halve_ the sum, giving the salt revenue on Pauthier’s assumptions = 1,185,000_l._ Pauthier has also endeavoured to present a table of the whole revenue of Kiang-Ché under the Mongols, amounting to 12,955,710 paper _taels_, or 2,132,294_l._, _including_ the salt revenue. This would leave only 947,294_l._ for the other sources of revenue, but the fact is that several of these are left blank, and among others one so important as the sea-customs. However, even making the extravagant supposition that the sea-customs and other omitted items were equal in amount to the whole of the other sources of revenue, salt included, the total would be only 4,264,585_l._ Marco’s amount, as he gives it, is, I think, unquestionably a huge exaggeration, though I do not suppose an intentional one. In spite of his professed rendering of the amounts in gold, I have little doubt that his tomans really represent paper-currency, and that to get a valuation in gold, his total has to be divided _at the very least_ by two. We may then compare his total of 290 tomans of paper _ting_ with Pauthier’s 130 tomans of paper _ting_, excluding sea-customs and some other items. No nearer comparison is practicable; and besides the sources of doubt already indicated, it remains uncertain what in either calculation are the limits of the province intended. For the bounds of Kiang-Ché seem to have varied greatly, sometimes including and sometimes excluding Fo-kien. I may observe that Rashiduddin reports, on the authority of the Mongol minister Pulad Chingsang, that the whole of Manzi brought in a revenue of “900 tomans.” This Quatremère renders “nine million pieces of gold,” presumably meaning dinars. It is unfortunate that there should be uncertainty here again as to the unit. If it were the _dinar_ the whole revenue of Manzi would be about 5,850,000_l._, whereas if the unit were, as in the case of Polo’s toman, the _ting_, the revenue would be nearly 30,000,000 sterling! It does appear that in China a toman of some denomination of money near the dinar was known in account. For Friar Odoric states the revenue of Yang-chau in _tomans_ of _Balish_, the latter unit being, as he explains, a sum in paper-currency equivalent to a florin and a half (or something more than a dinar); perhaps, however, only the _liang_ or tael (see vol. i. pp. 426–7). It is this calculation of the Kinsay revenue which Marco is supposed to be expounding to his fellow-prisoner on the title-page of this volume. [See _P. Hoang, Commerce Public du Sel_, Shanghai, 1898, Liang-tché-yen, pp. 6–7.—H. C.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Pauthier’s MSS. A and B are hopelessly corrupt here. His MS. C agrees with the Geog. Text in making the toman = 70,000 saggi, but 210 tomans = 15,700,000, instead of 14,700,000. The Crusca and Latin have 80,000 saggi in the first place, but 15,700,000 in the second. Ramusio alone has 80,000 in the first place, and 16,800,000 in the second. [2] _Eng. Cyclop., “Weights and Measures.”_ CHAPTER LXXIX. OF THE CITY OF TANPIJU AND OTHERS. When you leave Kinsay and travel a day’s journey to the south-east, through a plenteous region, passing a succession of dwellings and charming gardens, you reach the city of TANPIJU, a great, rich, and fine city, under Kinsay. The people are subject to the Kaan, and have paper-money, and are Idolaters, and burn their dead in the way described before. They live by trade and manufactures and handicrafts, and have all necessaries in great plenty and cheapness.{1} But there is no more to be said about it, so we proceed, and I will tell you of another city called VUJU at three days’ distance from Tanpiju. The people are Idolaters, &c., and the city is under Kinsay. They live by trade and manufactures. Travelling through a succession of towns and villages that look like one continuous city, two days further on to the south-east, you find the great and fine city of GHIUJU which is under Kinsay. The people are Idolaters, &c. They have plenty of silk, and live by trade and handicrafts, and have all things necessary in abundance. At this city you find the largest and longest canes that are in all Manzi; they are full four palms in girth and 15 paces in length.{2} When you have left Ghiuju you travel four days S.E. through a beautiful country, in which towns and villages are very numerous. There is abundance of game both in beasts and birds; and there are very large and fierce lions. After those four days you come to the great and fine city of CHANGSHAN. It is situated upon a hill which divides the River, so that the one portion flows up country and the other down.[1] It is still under the government of Kinsay. I should tell you that in all the country of Manzi they have no sheep, though they have beeves and kine, goats and kids and swine in abundance. The people are Idolaters here, &c. When you leave Changshan you travel three days through a very fine country with many towns and villages, traders and craftsmen, and abounding in game of all kinds, and arrive at the city of CUJU. The people are Idolaters, &c., and live by trade and manufactures. It is a fine, noble, and rich city, and is the last of the government of Kinsay in this direction.{3} The other kingdom which we now enter, called Fuju, is also one of the nine great divisions of Manzi as Kinsay is. NOTE 1.—The traveller’s route proceeds from Kinsay or Hang-chau southward to the mountains of Fo-kien, ascending the valley of the Ts’ien T’ang, commonly called by Europeans the Green River. The general line, directed as we shall see upon Kien-ning fu in Fo-kien, is clear enough, but some of the details are very obscure, owing partly to vague indications and partly to the excessive uncertainty in the reading of some of the proper names. No name resembling Tanpiju (G. T., _Tanpigui_; Pauthier, _Tacpiguy, Carpiguy, Capiguy_; Ram., _Tapinzu_) belongs, so far as has yet been shown, to any considerable town in the position indicated.[2] Both Pauthier and Mr. Kingsmill identify the place with Shao-hing fu, a large and busy town, compared by Fortune, as regards population, to Shang-hai. Shao-hing is across the broad river, and somewhat further down than Hang-chau: it is out of the traveller’s general direction; and it seems unnatural that he should commence his journey by passing this wide river, and yet not mention it. For these reasons I formerly rejected Shao-hing, and looked rather to Fu-yang as the representative of Tanpiju. But my opinion is shaken when I find both Mr. Elias and Baron Richthofen decidedly opposed to Fu-yang, and the latter altogether in favour of Shao-hing. “The journey through a plenteous region, passing a succession of dwellings and charming gardens; the epithets ‘great, rich, and fine city’; the ‘trade, manufactures, and handicrafts,’ and the ‘necessaries in great plenty and cheapness,’ appear to apply rather to the populous plain and the large city of ancient fame, than to the small Fu-yang hien ... shut in by a spur from the hills, which would hardly have allowed it in former days to have been a great city.” (_Note by Baron R._) The after route, as elucidated by the same authority, points with even more force to Shao-hing. [Mr. G. Phillips has made a special study of the route from Kinsay to Zaytun in the _T’oung Pao_, I. p. 218 _seq._ (_The Identity of Marco Polo’s Zaitun with Changchau_). He says (p. 222): “Leaving Hangchau by boat for Fuhkien, the first place of importance is Fuyang, at 100 _li_ from Hangchau. This name does not in any way resemble Polo’s Ta Pin Zu, but I think it can be no other.” Mr. Phillips writes (pp. 221–222) that by the route he describes, he “intends to follow the highway which has been used by travellers for centuries, and the greater part of which is by water.” He adds: “I may mention that the boats used on this route can be luxuriously fitted up, and the traveller can go in them all the way from Hangchau to Chinghu, the head of the navigation of the Ts’ien-t’ang River. At this Chinghu, they disembark and hire coolies and chairs to take them and their luggage across the Sien-hia pass to Puching in Fuhkien. This route is described by Fortune in an opposite direction, in his _Wanderings in China_, vol. ii. p. 139. I am inclined to think that Polo followed this route, as the one given by Yule, by way of Shao-hing and Kin-hua by land, would be unnecessarily tedious for the ladies Polo was escorting, and there was no necessity to take it; more especially as there was a direct water route to the point for which they were making. I further incline to this route, as I can find no city at all fitting in with Yenchau, Ramusio’s Gengiu, along the route given by Yule.” In my paper on the Catalan Map (Paris, 1895) I gave the following itinerary: Kinsay (Hang-chau), Tanpiju (Shao-hing fu), Vuju (Kin-hwa fu), Ghiuju (K’iu-chau fu), Chan-shan (Sui-chang hien), Cuju (Ch’u-chau), Ke-lin-fu (Kien-ning fu), Unken (Hu-kwan), Fuju (Fu-chau), Zayton (Kayten, Hai-t’au), Zayton (Ts’iuen-chau), Tyunju (Tek-hwa). Regarding the burning of the dead, Mr. Phillips (_T’oung Pao_, VI. p. 454) quotes the following passage from a notice by M. Jaubert. “The town of Zaitun is situated half a day’s journey inland from the sea. At the place where the ships anchor, the water is fresh. The people drink this water and also that of the wells. Zaitun is 30 days’ journey from Khanbaligh. The inhabitants of this town burn their dead either with Sandal, or Brazil wood, according to their means; they then throw the ashes into the river.” Mr. Phillips adds: “The custom of burning the dead is a long established one in Fuh-Kien, and does not find much favour among the upper classes. It exists even to this day in the central parts of the province. The time for cremation is generally at the time of the Tsing-Ming. At the commencement of the present dynasty the custom of burning the dead appears to have been pretty general in the Fuchow Prefecture; it was looked upon with disfavour by many, and the gentry petitioned the Authorities that proclamations forbidding it should be issued. It was thought unfilial for children to cremate their parents; and the practice of gathering up the bones of a partially cremated person and thrusting them into a jar, euphoniously called a Golden Jar, but which was really an earthen one, was much commented on, as, if the jar was too small to contain all the bones, they were broken up and put in, and many pieces got thrown aside. In the Changchow neighbourhood, with which we have here most to do, it was a universal custom in 1126 to burn the dead, and was in existence for many centuries after.” (See note, _supra_, II. p. 134.) Captain Gill, speaking of the country near the Great Wall, writes (I. p. 61): [“The Chinese] consider mutton very poor food, and the butchers’ shops are always kept by Mongols. In these, however, both beef and mutton can be bought for 3_d._ or 4_d._ a lb., while pork, which is considered by the Chinese as the greatest delicacy, sells for double the price.”—H. C.] NOTE 2.—Che-kiang produces bamboos more abundantly than any province of Eastern China. Dr. Medhurst mentions meeting, on the waters near Hang-chau, with numerous rafts of bamboos, one of which was one-third of a mile in length. (_Glance at Int. of China_, p. 53.) NOTE 3.—Assuming Tanpiju to be Shao-hing, the remaining places as far as the Fo-kien Frontier run thus:— 3 days to Vuju (P. _Vugui_, G. T. _Vugui, Vuigui_, Ram. _Uguiu_). 2 „ to Ghiuju (P. _Guiguy_, G. T. _Ghingui, Ghengui, Chengui_, Ram. _Gengui_). 4 „ to Changshan (P. _Ciancian_, G. T. _Cianscian_, Ram. _Zengian_). 3 „ to Cuju or Chuju (P. _Cinguy_, G. T. _Cugui_, Ram. _Gieza_). First as regards _Changshan_, which, with the notable circumstances about the waters there, constitutes the key to the route, I extract the following remarks from a note which Mr. Fortune has kindly sent me: “When we get to _Changshan_ the proof as to the route is _very strong_. This is undoubtedly my _Chang-shan_. The town is near the head of the Green River (the Ts’ien T’ang) which flows in a N.E. direction and falls into the Bay of Hang-chau. At Chang-shan the stream is no longer navigable even for small boats. Travellers going west or south-west walk or are carried in sedan-chairs across country in a westerly direction for about 30 miles to a town named Yuh-shan. Here there is a river which flows westward (‘the other half goes down’), taking the traveller rapidly in that direction, and passing _en route_ the towns of Kwansinfu, Hokow or Hokeu, and onward to the Poyang Lake.” From the careful study of Mr. Fortune’s published narrative I had already arrived at the conclusion that this was the correct explanation of the remarkable expressions about the division of the waters, which are closely analogous to those used by the traveller in ch. lxii. of this book when speaking of the watershed of the Great Canal at Sinjumatu. Paraphrased the words might run: “At Chang-shan you reach high ground, which interrupts the continuity of the River; from one side of this ridge it flows up country towards the north, from the other it flows down towards the south.” The expression “The River” will be elucidated in note 4 to ch. lxxxii. below. This route by the Ts’ien T’ang and the Chang-shan portage, which turns the danger involved in the navigation of the Yang-tzŭ and the Poyang Lake, was formerly a thoroughfare to the south much followed; though now almost abandoned through one of the indirect results (as Baron Richthofen points out) of steam navigation. The portage from Chang-shan to Yuh-shan was passed by the English and Dutch embassies in the end of last century, on their journeys from Hang-chau to Canton, and by Mr. Fortune on his way from Ningpo to the Bohea country of Fo-kien. It is probable that Polo on some occasion made the ascent of the Ts’ien T’ang by water, and that this leads him to notice the interruption of the navigation. [Mr. Phillips writes (_T. Pao_, I. p. 222): “From Fuyang the next point reached is Tunglu, also another 100 _li_ distant. Polo calls this city Ugim, a name bearing no resemblance to Tunglu, but this name and Ta Pin Zu are so corrupted in all editions that they defy conjecture. One hundred _li_ further up the river from Tunglu, we come to Yenchau, in which I think we have Polo’s Gengiu of Ramusio’s text. Yule’s text calls this city Ghiuju, possibly an error in transcription for Ghinju; Yenchau in ancient Chinese would, according to Williams, be pronounced Ngam, Ngin, and Ngienchau, all of which are sufficiently near Polo’s Gengiu. The next city reached is Lan Ki Hien or Lan Chi Hsien, famous for its hams, dates, and all the good things of this life, according to the Chinese. In this city I recognise Polo’s Zen Gi An of Ramusio. Does its description justify me in my identification? ‘The city of “Zen gi an,”’ says Ramusio, ‘is built upon a hill that stands isolated in the river, which latter, by dividing itself into two branches, appears to embrace it. These streams take opposite directions: one of them pursuing its course to the south-east and the other to the north-west.’ Fortune, in his _Wanderings in China_ (vol. ii. p. 139), calls Lan-Khi, Nan-Che-hien, and says: ‘It is built on the banks of the river, and has a picturesque hill behind it.’ Milne, who also visited it, mentions it in his _Life in China_ (p. 258), and says: ‘At the southern end of the suburbs of Lan-Ki the river divides into two branches, the one to the left on south-east leading direct to Kinhua.’ Milne’s description of the place is almost identical with Polo’s, when speaking of the division of the river. There are in Fuchau several Lan-Khi shopkeepers, who deal in hams, dates, etc., and these men tell me the city from the river has the appearance of being built on a hill, but the houses on the hill are chiefly temples. I would divide the name as follows, Zen gi an; the last syllable _an_ most probably represents the modern Hien, meaning District city, which in ancient Chinese was pronounced _Han_, softened by the Italians into _an_. Lan-Khi was a Hien in Polo’s day.”—H. C.] Kin-hwa fu, as Pauthier has observed, bore at this time the name of WU-CHAU, which Polo would certainly write _Vugiu_. And between Shao-hing and Kin-hwa there exists, as Baron Richthofen has pointed out, a line of depression which affords an easy connection between Shao-hing and Lan-ki hien or Kin-hwa fu. This line is much used by travellers, and forms just 3 short stages. Hence Kin-hwa, a fine city destroyed by the T’ai-P’ings, is satisfactorily identified with _Vugiu_. The journey from Vugui to Ghiuju is said to be through a succession of towns and villages, looking like a continuous city. Fortune, whose journey occurred before the T’ai-P’ing devastations, speaks of the approach to Kiu-chau as a vast and beautiful garden. And Mr. Milne’s map of this route shows an incomparable density of towns in the Ts’ien T’ang valley from Yen-chau up to Kiu-chau. _Ghiuju_ then will be KIU-CHAU. But between Kiu-chau and Chang-shan it is impossible to make four days: barely possible to make two. My map (_Itineraries_, No. VI.), based on D’Anville and Fortune, makes the _direct_ distance 24 miles; Milne’s map barely 18; whilst from his book we deduce the distance travelled by water to be about 30. On the whole, it seems probable that there is a mistake in the figure here. [Illustration: Marco Polo’s route from Kinsai to ZAITUN, illustrating Mr. G. Phillips’ theory.] From the head of the great Che-kiang valley I find two roads across the mountains into Fo-kien described. One leads from _Kiang-shan_ (not Chang-shan) by a town called Ching-hu, and then, nearly due south, across the mountains to Pu-ch’eng in Upper Fo-kien. This is specified by Martini (p. 113): it seems to have been followed by the Dutch Envoy, Van Hoorn, in 1665 (see _Astley_, III. 463), and it was travelled by Fortune on his return _from_ the Bohea country to Ningpo. (II. 247, 271.) The other route follows the portage spoken of above from _Chang-shan_ to Yuh-shan, and descends the river on that side to _Hokeu_, whence it strikes south-east across the mountains to Tsung-ngan-hien in Fo-kien. This route was followed by Fortune on his way _to_ the Bohea country. Both from Pu-ch’eng on the former route, and from near Tsung-ngan on the latter, the waters are navigable down to Kien-ning fu and so to Fu-chau. Mr. Fortune judges the first to have been Polo’s route. There does not, however, seem to be on this route any place that can be identified with his Cuju or Chuju. Ching-hu seems to be insignificant, and the name has no resemblance. On the other route followed by Mr. Fortune himself from that side we have Kwansin fu, _Hokeu_, Yen-shan, and (last town passed on that side) _Chuchu_. The latter, as to both name and position, is quite satisfactory, but it is described as a small poor town. _Hokeu_ would be represented in Polo’s spelling as Caghiu or Cughiu. It is now a place of great population and importance as the entrepôt of the Black Tea Trade, but, like many important commercial cities in the interior, not being even a _hien_, it has no place either in Duhalde or in Biot, and I cannot learn its age. It is no objection to this line that Polo speaks of Cuju or Chuju as the last city of the government of Kinsay, whilst the towns just named are in Kiang-si. For _Kiang-Ché_, the province of Kinsay, then included the eastern part of Kiang-si. (See _Cathay_, p. 270.) [Mr. Phillips writes (_T. Pao_, I. 223–224): “Eighty-five _li_ beyond Lan-ki hien is Lung-yin, a place not mentioned by Polo, and another ninety-five _li_ still further on is Chüchau or Keuchau, which is, I think, the Gie-za of Ramusio, and the Cuju of Yule’s version. Polo describes it as the last city of the government of Kinsai (Che-kiang) in this direction. It is the last Prefectural city, but ninety _li_ beyond Chü-chau, on the road to Pu-chêng, is Kiang-shan, a district city which is the last one in this direction. Twenty _li_ from Kiang-shan is Ching-hu, the head of the navigation of the T’sien-T’ang river. Here one hires chairs and coolies for the journey over the Sien-hia Pass to Pu-chêng, a distance of 215 _li_. From Pu-chêng, Fu-chau can be reached by water in 4 or 5 days. The distance is 780 _li_.”—H. C.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] “_Est sus un mont que parte le Flum, que le une moitié ala en sus e l’autre moitié en jus_” (G. T.). [2] One of the _Hien_, forming the special districts of Hang-Chau itself, now called _Tsien-tang_, was formerly called _Tang-wei-tang_. But it embraces the _eastern_ part of the district, and can, I think, have nothing to do with _Tanpiju_. (See _Biot_, p. 257, and _Chin. Repos._ for February, 1842, p. 109.) CHAPTER LXXX. CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF FUJU. On leaving Cuju, which is the last city of the kingdom of Kinsay, you enter the kingdom of FUJU, and travel six days in a south-easterly direction through a country of mountains and valleys, in which are a number of towns and villages with great plenty of victuals and abundance of game. Lions, great and strong, are also very numerous. The country produces ginger and galingale in immense quantities, insomuch that for a Venice groat you may buy fourscore pounds of good fine-flavoured ginger. They have also a kind of fruit resembling saffron, and which serves the purpose of saffron just as well.{1} And you must know the people eat all manner of unclean things, even the flesh of a man, provided he has not died a natural death. So they look out for the bodies of those that have been put to death and eat their flesh, which they consider excellent.{2} Those who go to war in those parts do as I am going to tell you. They shave the hair off the forehead and cause it to be painted in blue like the blade of a glaive. They all go afoot except the chief; they carry spears and swords, and are the most savage people in the world, for they go about constantly killing people, whose blood they drink, and then devour the bodies.{3} Now I will quit this and speak of other matters. You must know then that after going three days out of the six that I told you of you come to the city of KELINFU, a very great and noble city, belonging to the Great Kaan. This city hath three stone bridges which are among the finest and best in the world. They are a mile long and some nine paces in width, and they are all decorated with rich marble columns. Indeed they are such fine and marvellous works that to build any one of them must have cost a treasure.{4} The people live by trade and manufactures, and have great store of silk [which they weave into various stuffs], and of ginger and galingale. {5} [They also make much cotton cloth of dyed thread, which is sent all over Manzi.] Their women are particularly beautiful. And there is a strange thing there which I needs must tell you. You must know they have a kind of fowls which have no feathers, but hair only, like a cat’s fur.{6} They are black all over; they lay eggs just like our fowls, and are very good to eat. In the other three days of the six that I have mentioned above{7}, you continue to meet with many towns and villages, with traders, and goods for sale, and craftsmen. The people have much silk, and are Idolaters, and subject to the Great Kaan. There is plenty of game of all kinds, and there are great and fierce lions which attack travellers. In the last of those three days’ journey, when you have gone 15 miles you find a city called UNKEN, where there is an immense quantity of sugar made. From this city the Great Kaan gets all the sugar for the use of his Court, a quantity worth a great amount of money. [And before this city came under the Great Kaan these people knew not how to make fine sugar; they only used to boil and skim the juice, which when cold left a black paste. But after they came under the Great Kaan some men of Babylonia who happened to be at the Court proceeded to this city and taught the people to refine the sugar with the ashes of certain trees.{8}] There is no more to say of the place, so now we shall speak of the splendour of Fuju. When you have gone 15 miles from the city of Unken, you come to this noble city which is the capital of the kingdom. So we will now tell you what we know of it. NOTE 1.—The vague description does not suggest the root _turmeric_ with which Marsden and Pauthier identify this “fruit like saffron.” It is probably one of the species of _Gardenia_, the fruits of which are used by the Chinese for their colouring properties. Their splendid yellow colour “is due to a body named crocine which appears to be identical with the polychroite of saffron.” (_Hanbury’s Notes on Chinese Mat. Medica_, pp. 21–22.) For this identification, I am indebted to Dr. Flückiger of Bern. [“Colonel Yule concludes that the fruit of a _Gardenia_, which yields a yellow colour, is meant. But Polo’s vague description might just as well agree with the Bastard Saffron, _Carthamus tinctorius_, a plant introduced into China from Western Asia in the 2nd century B.C., and since then much cultivated in that country.” (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 4.)—H. C.] [Illustration: Scene in the Bohea Mountains, on Polo’s route between Kiang-si and Fo-kien. (From Fortune.) “=Adonc entre l’en en roiaume de Fugiu, et ici comance. Et ala siz jornée por montangnes e por valés....=”] NOTE 2.—See vol. i. p. 312. NOTE 3.—These particulars as to a race of painted or tattooed caterans accused of cannibalism apparently apply to some aboriginal tribe which still maintained its ground in the mountains between Fo-kien and Che-kiang or Kiang-si. Davis, alluding to the Upper part of the Province of Canton, says: “The Chinese History speaks of the aborigines of this wild region under the name of _Mân_ (Barbarians), who within a comparatively recent period were subdued and incorporated into the Middle Nation. Many persons have remarked a decidedly Malay cast in the features of the natives of this province; and it is highly probable that the Canton and Fo-kien people were originally the same race as the tribes which still remain unreclaimed on the east side of Formosa.”[1] (_Supply. Vol._ p. 260.) Indeed Martini tells us that even in the 17th century this very range of mountains, farther to the south, in the Ting-chau department of Fo-kien, contained a race of uncivilised people, who were enabled by the inaccessible character of the country to maintain their independence of the Chinese Government (p. 114; see also _Semedo_, p. 19). [“Colonel Yule’s ‘pariah caste’ of Shao-ling, who, he says, rebelled against either the Sung or the Yüan, are evidently the _tomin_ of Ningpo and _zikas_ of Wênchow. Colonel Yule’s ‘some aboriginal tribe between Fo-kien and Che-kiang’ are probably the _zikas_ of Wênchow and the _siapo_ of Fu-kien described by recent travellers. The _zikas_ are locally called dogs’ heads, which illustrates Colonel Yule’s allophylian theories.” (_Parker, China Review_, XIV. p. 359.) Cf. _A Visit to the “Dog-Headed Barbarians” or Hill People, near Fu-chow, by Rev. F. Ohlinger, Chinese Recorder_, July, 1886, pp. 265–268.—H. C.] NOTE 4.—Padre Martini long ago pointed out that this _Quelinfu_ is KIEN-NING FU, on the upper part of the Min River, an important city of Fo-kien. In the Fo-kien dialect he notices that _l_ is often substituted for _n_, a well-known instance of which is _Liampoo_, the name applied by F. M. Pinto and the old Portuguese to _Ningpo_. [Mr. Phillips writes (_T. Pao_, I. p. 224): “From Puchêng to Kien-Ning-Foo the distance is 290 _li_, all down stream. I consider this to have been the route followed by Polo. His calling Kien-Ning-Foo, Que-lin-fu, is quite correct, as far as the Ling is concerned, the people of the city and of the whole southern province pronounce Ning, Ling. The Ramusian version gives very full particulars regarding the manufactures of Kien-Ning-Foo, which are not found in the other texts; for example, silk is said in this version to be woven into various stuffs, and further: ‘They also make much cotton cloth of dyed thread which is sent all over Manzi.’ All this is quite true. Much silk was formerly and is still woven in Kien-Ning, and the manufacture of cotton cloth with dyed threads is very common. Such stuff is called Hung Lu Kin ‘red and green cloth.’ Cotton cloth, made with dyed thread, is also very common in our day in many other cities in Fuh-Kien.”—H. C.] In Ramusio the bridges are only “each more than 100 paces long and 8 paces wide.” In Pauthier’s text _each_ is a mile long, and 20 feet wide. I translate from the G. T. Martini describes _one_ beautiful bridge at Kien-ning fu: the piers of cut stone, the superstructure of timber, roofed in and lined with houses on each side (pp. 112–113). If this was over the Min it would seem not to survive. A recent journal says: “The river is crossed by a bridge of boats, the remains of a stone bridge being visible just above water.” (_Chinese Recorder_ (Foochow), August, 1870, p. 65.) NOTE 5.—_Galanga_ or Galangal is an aromatic root belonging to a class of drugs once much more used than now. It exists of two kinds: 1. _Great_ or _Java Galangal_, the root of the _Alpinia Galanga_. This is rarely imported and hardly used in Europe in modern times, but is still found in the Indian bazaars. 2. _Lesser_ or _China Galangal_ is imported into London from Canton, and is still sold by druggists in England. Its botanical origin is unknown. It is produced in Shan-si, Fo-kien, and Kwang-tung, and is called by the Chinese _Liang Kiang_ or “Mild Ginger.” [“According to the Chinese authors the province of Sze-ch’wan and Han-chung (Southern Shen-si) were in ancient times famed for their Ginger. Ginger is still exported in large quantities from Han k’ou. It is known also to be grown largely in the southern provinces.—Galingale is the Lesser or Chinese Galanga of commerce, _Alpinia officinarum_ Hance.” (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 2. See _Heyd, Com. Levant_, II. 616–618.)—H. C.] Galangal was much used as a spice in the Middle Ages. In a syrup for a capon, _temp._ Rich. II., we find ground-ginger, cloves, cinnamon and _galingale_. “Galingale” appears also as a growth in old English gardens, but this is believed to have been _Cyperus Longus_, the tubers of which were substituted for the real article under the name of English Galingale. The name appears to be a modification of the Arabic _Kulíjan_, Pers. _Kholinján_, and these from the Sanskrit _Kulanjana_. (_Mr. Hanbury; China Comm.-Guide_, 120; _Eng. Cycl.; Garcia_, f. 63; _Wright_, p. 352.) NOTE 6.—The cat in question is no doubt the fleecy Persian. These fowls,—but white,—are mentioned by Odoric at Fu-chau; and Mr. G. Phillips in a MS. note says that they are still abundant in Fo-kien, where he has often seen them; all that he saw or heard of were _white_. The Chinese call them “velvet-hair fowls.” I believe they are well known to poultry-fanciers in Europe. [_Gallus Lanatus_, Temm. See note, p. 286, of my edition of Odoric.—H. C.] NOTE 7.—The _times_ assigned in this chapter as we have given them, after the G. Text, appear very short; but I have followed that text because it is perfectly consistent and clear. Starting from the last city of Kinsay government, the traveller goes six days south-east; _three_ out of those six days bring him to Kelinfu; he goes on the other three days and at the 15th mile of the 3rd day reaches Unken; 15 miles further bring him to Fuju. This is interesting as showing that Polo reckoned his day at 30 miles. In Pauthier’s text again we find: “_Sachiez que quand on est alé_ six journées, après ces trois que je vous ay dit,” not having mentioned _trois_ at all “_on treuve la cité de Quelifu_.” And on leaving Quelinfu: “_Sachiez que_ es autres trois journées oultre et plus xv. milles _treuve l’en une cité qui a nom Vuguen_.” This seems to mean from Cugui to Kelinfu six days, and thence to Vuguen (or Unken) three and a half days more. But evidently there has been bungling in the transcript, for the _es autre trois journées_ belongs to the same conception of the distance as that in the G. T. Pauthier’s text does not say how far it is from Unken to Fuju. Ramusio makes six days to Kelinfu, three days more to Unguem, and then 15 miles more to Fuju (which he has erroneously as _Cãgiu_ here, though previously given right, _Fugiu_). The latter scheme looks probable certainly, but the times in the G. T. are quite admissible, if we suppose that water conveyance was adopted where possible. For assuming that _Cugiu_ was Fortune’s Chuchu at the western base of the Bohea mountains (see note 3, ch. lxxix.), and that the traveller reached Tsun-ngan-hien, in two marches, I see that from Tsin-tsun, near Tsun-ngan-hien, Fortune says he could have reached Fu-chau in four days by boat. Again Martini, speaking of the skill with which the Fo-kien boatmen navigate the rocky rapids of the upper waters, says that even from _Pu-ch’eng_ the descent to the capital could be made in three days. So the thing is quite possible, and the G. Text may be quite correct. (See _Fortune_, II. 171–183 and 210; _Mart._ 110.) A party which recently made the journey seem to have been six days from _Hokeu_ to the Wu-e-shan and then five and a half days by water (but in stormy weather) to Fu-chau. (_Chinese Recorder_, as above.) NOTE 8.—Pauthier supposes Unken, or _Vuguen_ as he reads it, to be _Hukwan_, one of the _hiens_ under the immediate administration of Fu-chau city. This cannot be, according to the lucid reading of the G. T., making Unken 15 miles from the chief city. The only place which the maps show about that position is _Min-ts’ing hien_. And the Dutch mission of 1664–1665 names this as “_Binkin_, by some called Min-sing.” (_Astley_, III. 461.) [Mr. Phillips writes (_T. Pao_, I. 224–225): “Going down stream from Kien-Ning, we arrive first at Yen-Ping on the Min Main River. Eighty-seven _li_ further down is the mouth of the Yiu-Ki River, up which stream, at a distance of eighty _li_, is Yiu-Ki city, where travellers disembark for the land journey to Yung-chun and Chinchew. This route is the highway from the town of Yiu-Ki to the seaport of Chinchew. This I consider to have been Polo’s route, and Ramusio’s Unguen I believe to be Yung-chun, locally known as Eng-chun or Ung-chun, a name greatly resembling Polo’s Unguen. I look upon this mere resemblance of name as of small moment in comparison with the weighty and important statement, that ‘this place is remarkable for a great manufacture of sugar.’ Going south from the Min River towards Chinchew, this is the first district in which sugar-cane is seen growing in any quantity. Between Kien-Ning-Foo and Fuchau I do not know of any place remarkable for the _great_ manufacture of sugar. Pauthier makes How-Kuan do service for Unken or Unguen, but this is inadmissible, as there is no such place as How-Kuan; it is simply one of the divisions of the city of Fuchau, which is divided into two districts, viz. the Min-Hien and the How-Kuan-Hien. A small quantity of sugar-cane is, I admit, grown in the How-Kuan division of Fuchau-foo, but it is not extensively made into sugar. The cane grown there is usually cut into short pieces for chewing and hawked about the streets for sale. The nearest point to Foochow where sugar is made in any great quantity is Yung-Foo, a place quite out of Polo’s route. The great sugar manufacturing districts of Fuh-Kien are Hing-hwa, Yung-chun, Chinchew, and Chang-chau.”—H. C.] The _Babylonia_ of the passage from Ramusio is Cairo,—Babylon of Egypt, the sugar of which was very famous in the Middle Ages. _Zucchero di Bambellonia_ is repeatedly named in Pegolotti’s Handbook (210, 311, 362, etc.). The passage as it stands represents the Chinese as not knowing even how to get sugar in the granular form: but perhaps the fact was that they did not know how to _refine_ it. Local Chinese histories acknowledge that the people of Fo-kien did not know how to make fine sugar, till, in the time of the Mongols, certain men from the West taught the art.[2] It is a curious illustration of the passage that in India coarse sugar is commonly called _Chíní_, “the produce of China,” and sugar candy or fine sugar _Misri_, the produce of Cairo (_Babylonia_) or Egypt. Nevertheless, fine _Misri_ has long been exported from Fo-kien to India, and down to 1862 went direct from Amoy. It is now, Mr. Phillips states, sent to India by steamers _viâ_ Hong-Kong. I see it stated, in a late Report by Mr. Consul Medhurst, that the sugar at this day commonly sold and consumed throughout China is excessively coarse and repulsive in appearance. (See _Academy_, February, 1874, p. 229.) [We note from the _Returns of Trade for 1900_, of the Chinese Customs, p. 467, that during that year 1900, the following quantities of sugar were exported from Amoy: _Brown_, 89,116 _piculs_, value 204,969 Hk. taels; _white_, 3,708 _piculs_, 20,024 Hk. taels; _candy_, 53,504 _piculs_, 304,970 Hk. taels.—H. C.] [Dr. Bretschneider (_Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 2) remarks that “the sugar cane although not indigenous in China, was known to the Chinese in the 2nd century B.C. It is largely cultivated in the Southern provinces.”—H. C.] The fierce lions are, as usual, tigers. These are numerous in this province, and tradition points to the diversion of many roads, owing to their being infested by tigers. Tiger cubs are often offered for sale in Amoy.[3] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] “It is not improbable that there is some admixture of aboriginal blood in the actual population (of Fuh-Kien), but if so, it cannot be much. The _surnames_ in this province are the same as those in Central and North China.... The language also is pure Chinese; actually much nearer the ancient form of Chinese than the modern Mandarin dialect. There are indeed many words in the vernacular for which no corresponding character has been found in the literary style: but careful investigation is gradually diminishing the number.” (_Note by Rev. Dr. C. Douglas_.) [2] _Note_ by _Mr. C. Phillips_. I omit a corroborative quotation about sugar from the Turkish Geography, copied from Klaproth in the former edition; because the author, Hajji Khalfa, used European sources; and I have no doubt the passage was derived indirectly from Marco Polo. [3] _Note_ by _Mr. G. Phillips_. CHAPTER LXXXI. CONCERNING THE GREATNESS OF THE CITY OF FUJU. Now this city of Fuju is the key of the kingdom which is called CHONKA, and which is one of the nine great divisions of Manzi.{1} The city is a seat of great trade and great manufactures. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan. And a large garrison is maintained there by that prince to keep the kingdom in peace and subjection. For the city is one which is apt to revolt on very slight provocation. There flows through the middle of this city a great river, which is about a mile in width, and many ships are built at the city which are launched upon this river. Enormous quantities of sugar are made there, and there is a great traffic in pearls and precious stones. For many ships of India come to these parts bringing many merchants who traffic about the Isles of the Indies. For this city is, as I must tell you, in the vicinity of the Ocean Port of ZAYTON,{2} which is greatly frequented by the ships of India with their cargoes of various merchandize; and from Zayton ships come this way right up to the city of Fuju by the river I have told you of; and ’tis in this way that the precious wares of India come hither.{3} The city is really a very fine one and kept in good order, and all necessaries of life are there to be had in great abundance and cheapness. NOTE 1.—The name here applied to Fo-kien by Polo is variously written as _Choncha, Chonka, Concha, Chouka_. It has not been satisfactorily explained. Klaproth and Neumann refer it to _Kiang-Ché_, of which Fo-kien at one time of the Mongol rule formed a part. This is the more improbable as Polo expressly distinguishes this province or kingdom from that which was under Kinsay, viz. Kiang-Ché. Pauthier supposes the word to represent _Kien-Kwé_, “the Kingdom of Kien,” because in the 8th century this territory had formed a principality of which the seat was at _Kien-chau_, now Kien-ning fu. This is not satisfactory either, for no evidence is adduced that the name continued in use. One might suppose that _Choncha_ represented _T’swan-chau_, the Chinese name of the city of Zayton, or rather of the department attached to it, written by the French _Thsiuan-tchéou_, but by Medhurst _Chwanchew_, were it not that Polo’s practice of writing the term _tchéu_ or _chau_ by _giu_ is so nearly invariable, and that the soft _ch_ is almost always expressed in the old texts by the Italian _ci_ (though the Venetian does use the soft _ch_).[1] It is again impossible not to be struck with the resemblance of _Chonka_ to “CHUNG-KWÉ” “the Middle Kingdom,” though I can suggest no ground for the application of such a title specially to Fo-kien, except a possible misapprehension. _Chonkwé_ occurs in the Persian _Historia Cathaica_ published by Müller, but is there specially applied to _North China_. (See _Quat. Rashid._, p. lxxxvi.) The city of course is FU-CHAU. It was visited also by Friar Odoric, who calls it _Fuzo_, and it appears in duplicate on the Catalan Map as _Fugio_ and as _Fozo_. I used the preceding words, “the city of course is Fu-chau,” in the first edition. Since then Mr. G. Phillips, of the consular staff in Fo-kien, has tried to prove that Polo’s Fuju is not Fu-chau (_Foochow_ is his spelling), but T’swan-chau. This view is bound up with another regarding the identity of Zayton, which will involve lengthy notice under next chapter; and both views have met with an able advocate in the Rev. Dr. C. Douglas, of Amoy.[2] I do not in the least accept these views about Fuju. In considering the objections made to Fu-chau, it must never be forgotten that, according to the spelling usual with Polo or his scribe, Fuju is not merely “a name with a great resemblance in sound to Foochow” (as Mr. Phillips has it); it _is_ Mr. Phillips’s word Foochow, just as absolutely as my word Fu-chau is his word Foochow. (See remarks almost at the end of the Introductory Essay.) And what has to be proved against me in this matter is, that when Polo _speaks_ of Fu-chau he does not _mean_ Fu-chau. It must also be observed that the distances as given by Polo (three days from Quelinfu to Fuju, five days from Fuju to Zayton) do correspond well with my interpretations, and do _not_ correspond with the other. These are very strong fences of my position, and it demands strong arguments to level them. The adverse arguments (in brief) are these: (1.) That Fu-chau was not the capital of Fo-kien (“_chief dou reigne_”). (2.) That the River of Fu-chau does not flow through the middle of the city (“_por le mi de cest cité_”), nor even under the walls. (3.) That Fu-chau was not frequented by foreign trade till centuries afterwards. The first objection will be more conveniently answered under next chapter. As regards the second, the fact urged is true. But even now a straggling street extends to the river, ending in a large suburb on its banks, and a famous bridge there crosses the river to the south side where now the foreign settlements are. There _may_ have been suburbs on that side to justify the _por le mi_, or these words may have been a slip; for the Traveller begins the next chapter—“When you quit Fuju (to go south) you _cross the river_.”[3] Touching the question of foreign commerce, I do not see that Mr. Phillips’s negative evidence would be sufficient to establish his point. But, in fact, the words of the Geog. Text (_i.e._ the original dictation), which we have followed, do not (as I now see) necessarily involve any foreign trade at Fu-chau, the impression of which has been derived mainly from Ramusio’s text. They appear to imply no more than that, through the vicinity of Zayton, there was a great influx of Indian wares, which were brought on from the great port by vessels (it may be local junks) ascending the river Min.[4] [Illustration: Scene on the Min River, below Fu-chau. (From Fortune.) “=E sachiés che por le mi de ceste cité vait un grant flun qe bien est large un mil, et en ceste cité se font maintes nés lesquelz najent por cel flum.=”] [Mr. Phillips gives the following itinerary after Unguen: Kangiu = Chinchew = Chuan-chiu or Ts’wan-chiu. He writes (_T. Pao_, I. p. 227): “When you leave the city of Chinchew for Changchau, which lies in a south-westerly, not a south-easterly direction, you cross the river by a handsome bridge, and travelling for five days by way of Tung-an, locally Tang-oa, you arrive at Changchau. Along this route in many parts, more especially in that part lying between Tang-oa and Changchau, very large camphor-trees are met with. I have frequently travelled over this road. The road from Fuchau to Chinchew, which also takes five days to travel over, is bleak and barren, lying chiefly along the sea-coast, and in winter a most uncomfortable journey. But few trees are met with; a banyan here and there, but no camphor-trees along this route; but there is one extremely interesting feature on it that would strike the most unobservant traveller, viz.: the Loyang bridge, one of the wonders of China.” Had Polo travelled by this route, he would certainly have mentioned it. Pauthier remarks upon Polo’s silence in this matter: “It is surprising,” says he, “that Marco Polo makes no mention of it.”—H. C.] NOTE 2.—The G. T. reads _Caiton_, presumably for Çaiton or Zayton. In Pauthier’s text, in the following chapter, the name of Zayton is written _Çaiton_ and _Çayton_, and the name of that port appears in the same form in the Letter of its Bishop, Andrew of Perugia, quoted in note 2, ch. lxxxii. Pauthier, however, in _this_ place reads _Kayteu_, which he develops into a port at the mouth of the River Min.[5] NOTE 3.—The Min, the River of Fu-chau, “varies much in width and depth. Near its mouth, and at some other parts, it is not less than a mile in width, elsewhere deep and rapid.” It is navigable for ships of large size 20 miles from the mouth, and for good-sized junks thence to the great bridge. The scenery is very fine, and is compared to that of the Hudson. (_Fortune_, I. 281; _Chin. Repos._ XVI. 483.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Dr. Medhurst calls the proper name of the city, as distinct from the _Fu_, _Chinkang_ (_Dict. of the Hok-keen dialect_). Dr. Douglas has suggested _Chinkang_, and _T’swan-kok_, _i.e._ “Kingdom of T’swan” (chau), as possible explanations of _Chonka_. [2] Mr. Phillips’s views were issued first in the _Chinese Recorder_ (published by Missionaries at Fu-Chau) in 1870, and afterwards sent to the R. Geo. Soc., in whose Journal for 1874 they appeared, with remarks in reply more detailed than I can introduce here. Dr. Douglas’s notes were received after this sheet was in proof, and it will be seen that they modify to a certain extent my views about Zayton, though not about Fu-chau. His notes, which do more justice to the question than Mr. Phillips’s, should find a place with the other papers in the Geog. Society’s Journal. [3] There is a capital lithograph of Fu-chau in _Fortune’s Three Years’ Wanderings_ (1847), in which the city shows as on a river, and Fortune always so speaks of it; _e.g._ (p. 369): “The river runs through the suburbs.” I do not know what is the worth of the old engravings in Montanus. A view of Fu-chau in one of these (reproduced in _Astley_, iv. 33) shows a broad creek from the river penetrating to the heart of the city. [4] The words of the G. T. are these: “_Il hi se fait grant mercandies de perles e d’autres pieres presiose, e ce est por ce que les nés de Yndie hi vienent maintes con maint merchaant qe usent en les ysles de Endie, et encore voz di que ceste ville est prés au port de Caiton en la mer Osiane; et illuec vienent maintes nés de Indie con maintes mercandies, e puis de cest part vienent les nés por le grant flum qe je voz ai dit desoure jusque à la cité de Fugui, et en ceste mainere hi vienent chieres cousse de Indie._” [5] It is odd enough that Martini (though M. Pauthier apparently was not aware of it) does show a fort called _Haiteu_ at the mouth of the Min; but I believe this to be merely an accidental coincidence. The various readings must be looked at together; that of the G. T. which I have followed is clear in itself and accounts for the others. CHAPTER LXXXII. OF THE CITY AND GREAT HAVEN OF ZAYTON. Now when you quit Fuju and cross the River, you travel for five days south-east through a fine country, meeting with a constant succession of flourishing cities, towns, and villages, rich in every product. You travel by mountains and valleys and plains, and in some places by great forests in which are many of the trees which give Camphor.{1} There is plenty of game on the road, both of bird and beast. The people are all traders and craftsmen, subjects of the Great Kaan, and under the government of Fuju. When you have accomplished those five days’ journey you arrive at the very great and noble city of ZAYTON, which is also subject to Fuju. At this city you must know is the Haven of Zayton, frequented by all the ships of India, which bring thither spicery and all other kinds of costly wares. It is the port also that is frequented by all the merchants of Manzi, for hither is imported the most astonishing quantity of goods and of precious stones and pearls, and from this they are distributed all over Manzi.{2} And I assure you that for one shipload of pepper that goes to Alexandria or elsewhere, destined for Christendom, there come a hundred such, aye and more too, to this haven of Zayton; for it is one of the two greatest havens in the world for commerce.{3} The Great Kaan derives a very large revenue from the duties paid in this city and haven; for you must know that on all the merchandize imported, including precious stones and pearls, he levies a duty of ten per cent., or in other words takes tithe of everything. Then again the ship’s charge for freight on small wares is 30 per cent., on pepper 44 per cent., and on lignaloes, sandalwood, and other bulky goods 40 per cent., so that between freight and the Kaan’s duties the merchant has to pay a good half the value of his investment [though on the other half he makes such a profit that he is always glad to come back with a new supply of merchandize]. But you may well believe from what I have said that the Kaan hath a vast revenue from this city. There is a great abundance here of all provision for every necessity of man’s life. [It is a charming country, and the people are very quiet, and fond of an easy life. Many come hither from Upper India to have their bodies painted with the needle in the way we have elsewhere described, there being many adepts at this craft in the city.{4}] Let me tell you also that in this province there is a town called TYUNJU, where they make vessels of porcelain of all sizes, the finest that can be imagined. They make it nowhere but in that city, and thence it is exported all over the world. Here it is abundant and very cheap, insomuch that for a Venice groat you can buy three dishes so fine that you could not imagine better.{5} I should tell you that in this city (_i.e._ of Zayton) they have a peculiar language. [For you must know that throughout all Manzi they employ one speech and one kind of writing only, but yet there are local differences of dialect, as you might say of Genoese, Milanese, Florentines, and Neapolitans, who though they speak different dialects can understand one another.{6}] And I assure you that the Great Kaan has as large customs and revenues from this kingdom of Chonka as from Kinsay, aye and more too.{7} We have now spoken of but three out of the nine kingdoms of Manzi, to wit Yanju and Kinsay and Fuju. We could tell you about the other six, but it would be too long a business; so we will say no more about them. And now you have heard all the truth about Cathay and Manzi and many other countries, as has been set down in this Book; the customs of the people and the various objects of commerce, the beasts and birds, the gold and silver and precious stones, and many other matters have been rehearsed to you. But our Book as yet does not contain nearly all that we purpose to put therein. For we have still to tell you all about the people of India and the notable things of that country, which are well worth the describing, for they are marvellous indeed. What we shall tell is all true, and without any lies. And we shall set down all the particulars in writing just as Messer Marco Polo related them. And he well knew the facts, for he remained so long in India, and enquired so diligently into the manners and peculiarities of the nations, that I can assure you there never was a single man before who learned so much and beheld so much as he did. NOTE 1.—The _Laurus_ (or _Cinnamomum_) _Camphora_, a large timber tree, grows abundantly in Fo-kien. A description of the manner in which camphor is produced at a very low cost, by sublimation from the chopped twigs, etc., will be found in the _Lettres Edifiantes_, XXIV. 19 _seqq._; and more briefly in _Hedde_ by _Rondot_, p. 35. Fo-kien alone has been known to send to Canton in one year 4000 _piculs_ (of 133⅓ lbs. each), but the average is 2500 to 3000 (_ib._). NOTE 2.—When Marco says Zayton is one of the _two_ greatest commercial ports in the world, I know not if he has another haven in his eye, or is only using an idiom of the age. For in like manner Friar Odoric calls Java “the _second best_ of all Islands that exist”; and Kansan (or Shen-si) the “_second best_ province in the world, and the best populated.” But apart from any such idiom, Ibn Batuta pronounces Zayton to be the greatest haven in the world. Martini relates that when one of the Emperors wanted to make war on Japan, the Province of Fo-kien offered to bridge the interval with their vessels! ZAYTON, as Martini and Deguignes conjectured, is T’SWAN-CHAU FU, or CHWAN-CHAU FU (written by French scholars _Thsiouan-tchéou-fou_), often called in our charts, etc., _Chinchew_, a famous seaport of Fo-kien about 100 miles in a straight line S.W. by S. of Fu-chau. Klaproth supposes that the name by which it was known to the Arabs and other Westerns was corrupted from an old Chinese name of the city, given in the Imperial Geography, viz. TSEU-T’UNG.[1] _Zaitún_ commended itself to Arabian ears, being the Arabic for an olive-tree (whence Jerusalem is called _Zaitúniyah_); but the corruption (if such it be) must be of very old date, as the city appears to have received its present name in the 7th or 8th century. Abulfeda, whose Geography was terminated in 1321, had heard the real name of Zayton: “_Shanju_” he calls it, “known in our time as Zaitún”; and again: “Zaitún, _i.e._ Shanju, is a haven of China, and, according to the accounts of merchants who have travelled to those parts, is a city of mark. It is situated on a marine estuary which ships enter from the China Sea. The estuary extends fifteen miles, and there is a river at the head of it. According to some who have seen the place, the tide flows. It is half a day from the sea, and the channel by which ships come up from the sea is of fresh water. It is smaller in size than Hamath, and has the remains of a wall which was destroyed by the Tartars. The people drink water from the channel, and also from wells.” Friar Odoric (in China, _circa_ 1323–1327, who travelled apparently by land from Chin-kalán, _i.e._ Canton) says: “Passing through many cities and towns, I came to a certain noble city which is called Zayton, where we Friars Minor have two Houses.... In this city is great plenty of all things that are needful for human subsistence. For example, you can get three pounds and eight ounces of sugar for less than half a groat. The city is twice as great as Bologna, and in it are many monasteries of devotees, idol-worshippers every man of them. In one of those monasteries which I visited there were 3000 monks.... The place is one of the best in the world.... Thence I passed eastward to a certain city called Fuzo.... The city is a mighty fine one, and standeth upon the sea.” Andrew of Perugia, another Franciscan, was Bishop of Zayton from 1322, having resided there from 1318. In 1326 he writes a letter home, in which he speaks of the place as “a great city on the shores of the Ocean Sea, which is called in the Persian tongue _Cayton_ (Çayton); and in this city a rich Armenian lady did build a large and fine enough church, which was erected into a cathedral by the Archbishop,” and so on. He speaks incidentally of the Genoese merchants frequenting it. John Marignolli, who was there about 1347, calls it “a wondrous fine sea-port, and a city of incredible size, where our Minor Friars have three very fine churches; ... and they have a bath also, and a _fondaco_ which serves as a depôt for all the merchants.” Ibn Batuta about the same time says: “The first city that I reached after crossing the sea was ZAITÚN.... It is a great city, superb indeed; and in it they make damasks of velvet as well as those of satin (_Kimkhá_ and _Atlás_), which are called from the name of the city _Zatúníah_; they are superior to the stuffs of Khansá and Khánbálik. The harbour of Zaitún is one of the greatest in the world—I am wrong; it is _the_ greatest! I have seen there about an hundred first-class junks together; as for small ones, they were past counting. The harbour is formed by an estuary which runs inland from the sea until it joins the Great River.” [Mr. Geo. Phillips finds a strong argument in favour of Changchau being Zayton in this passage of Ibn Batuta. He says (_Jour. China Br. R. A. Soc._ 1888, 28–29): “Changchow in the Middle Ages was the seat of a great silk manufacture, and the production of its looms, such as gauzes, satins and velvets, were said to exceed in beauty those of Soochow and Hangchow. According to the _Fuhkien Gazetteer_, silk goods under the name of Kinki, and porcelain were, at the end of the Sung Dynasty, ordered to be taken abroad and to be bartered against foreign wares, treasure having been prohibited to leave the country. In this Kinki I think we may recognise the Kimkha of IBN BATUTA. I incline to this fact, as the characters Kinki are pronounced in the Amoy and Changchow dialects Khimkhi and Kimkhia. Anxious to learn if the manufacture of these silk goods still existed in Changchow, I communicated with the Rev. Dr. TALMAGE of Amoy, who, through the Rev. Mr. Ross of the London Mission, gave me the information that Kinki was formerly somewhat extensively manufactured at Changchow, although at present it was only made by one shop in that city. IBN BATUTA tells us that the King of China had sent to the Sultan, five hundred pieces of Kamkha, of which one hundred were made in the city of Zaitún. This form of present appears to have been continued by the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty, for we learn that the Emperor Yunglo gave to the Envoy of the Sultan of Quilon, presents of Kinki and Shalo, that is to say, brocaded silks and gauzes. Since writing the above, I found that Dr. HIRTH suggests that the characters Kinhua, meaning literally gold flower in the sense of silk embroidery, possibly represent the mediæval Khimka. I incline rather to my own suggestion. In the _Pei-wen-yun-fu_ these characters Kien-ki are frequently met in combination, meaning a silk texture, such as brocade or tapestry. Curtains made of this texture are mentioned in Chinese books, as early as the commencement of the Christian era.”—H. C.] Rashiduddin, in enumerating the Sings or great provincial governments of the empire, has the following: “7th FUCHÚ.—This is a city of Manzi. The Sing was formerly located at ZAITÚN, but afterwards established here, where it still remains. Zaitún is a great shipping-port, and the commandant there is Boháuddin Ḳandári.” Pauthier’s Chinese extracts show us that the seat of the _Sing_ was, in 1281, at T’swan-chau, but was then transferred to Fu-chau. In 1282 it was removed back to T’swan-chau, and in 1283 recalled to Fu-chau. That is to say, what the Persian writer tells us of Fújú and Zayton, the Chinese Annalists tell us of Fu-chau and T’swan-chau. Therefore Fuju and Zayton were respectively Fu-chau and T’swan-chau. [In the _Yuen-shi_ (ch. 94), _Shi po_, Maritime trade regulations, it “is stated, among other things, that in 1277, a superintendency of foreign trade was established in Ts’uän-chou. Another superintendency was established for the three ports of K’ing-yüan (the present Ning-po), Shang-hai, and Gan-p’u. These three ports depended on the province of Fu-kien, the capital of which was Ts’üan-chou. Farther on, the ports of Hang-chou and Fu-chou are also mentioned in connection with foreign trade. Chang-chou (in Fu-kien, near Amoy) is only once spoken of there. We meet further the names of Wen-chou and Kuang-chou as seaports for foreign trade in the Mongol time. But Ts’üan-chou in this article on the sea-trade seems to be considered as the most important of the seaports, and it is repeatedly referred to. I have, therefore, no doubt that the port of Zayton of Western mediæval travellers can only be identified with Ts’uän-chou, not with Chang-chou.... There are many other reasons found in Chinese works in favour of this view. Gan-p’u of the _Yuen-shi_ is the seaport Ganfu of Marco Polo.” (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. pp. 186–187.) In his paper on _Changchow, the Capital of Fuhkien in Mongol Times_, printed in the _Jour. China B. R. A. Soc._ 1888, pp. 22–30, Mr. Geo. Phillips from Chinese works has shown that the Port of Chang-chau did, in Mongol times, alternate with Chinchew and Fu-chau as the capital of Fuh-kien.—H. C.] Further, Zayton was, as we see from this chapter, and from the 2nd and 5th of Bk. III., in that age the great focus and harbour of communication with India and the Islands. From Zayton sailed Kúblái’s ill-fated expedition against Japan. From Zayton Marco Polo seems to have sailed on his return to the West, as did John Marignolli some half century later. At Zayton Ibn Batuta first landed in China, and from it he sailed on his return. All that we find quoted from Chinese records regarding _T’swan-chau_ corresponds to these Western statements regarding _Zayton_. For centuries T’swan-chau was the seat of the Customs Department of Fo-kien, nor was this finally removed till 1473. In all the historical notices of the arrival of ships and missions from India and the Indian Islands during the reign of Kúblái, T’swan-chau, and T’swan-chau almost alone, is the port of debarkation; in the notices of Indian regions in the annals of the same reign it is from T’swan-chau that the distances are estimated; it was from T’swan-chau that the expeditions against Japan and Java were mainly fitted out. (See quotations by Pauthier, pp. 559, 570, 604, 653, 603, 643; _Gaubil_, 205, 217; _Deguignes_, III. 169, 175, 180, 187; _Chinese Recorder_ (Foochow), 1870, pp. 45 _seqq._) When the Portuguese, in the 16th century, recovered China to European knowledge, Zayton was no longer the great haven of foreign trade; but yet the old name was not extinct among the mariners of Western Asia. Giovanni d’Empoli, in 1515, writing about China from Cochin, says: “Ships carry spices thither from these parts. Every year there go thither from Sumatra 60,000 cantars of pepper, and 15,000 or 20,000 from Cochin and Malabar, worth 15 to 20 ducats a cantar; besides ginger (?), mace, nutmegs, incense, aloes, velvet, European goldwire, coral, woollens, etc. The Grand Can is the King of China, and he dwells at ZEITON.” Giovanni hoped to get to Zeiton before he died.[2] The port of T’swan-chau is generally called in our modern charts _Chinchew_. Now _Chincheo_ is the name given by the old Portuguese navigators to the coast of Fo-kien, as well as to the port which they frequented there, and till recently I supposed this to be T’swan-chau. But Mr. Phillips, in his paper alluded to at p. 232, asserted that by _Chincheo_ modern Spaniards and Portuguese designated (not T’swan-chau but) _Chang-chau_, a great city 60 miles W.S.W. of T’swan-chau, on a river entering Amoy Harbour. On turning, with this hint, to the old maps of the 17th century, I found that their Chincheo is really Chang-chau. But Mr. Phillips also maintains that Chang-chau, or rather its port, a place formerly called Gehkong and now Haiteng, is _Zayton_. Mr. Phillips does not adduce any precise evidence to show that this place was known as a port in Mongol times, far less that it was known as the most famous haven in the world; nor was I able to attach great weight to the arguments which he adduced. But his thesis, or a modification of it, has been taken up and maintained with more force, as already intimated, by the Rev. Dr. Douglas. The latter makes a strong point in the magnificent character of Amoy Harbour, which really is one of the grandest havens in the world, and thus answers better to the emphatic language of Polo, and of Ibn Batuta, than the river of T’swan-chau. All the rivers of Fo-kien, as I learn from Dr. Douglas himself, are rapidly silting up; and it is probable that the river of Chinchew presented, in the 13th and 14th centuries, a far more impressive aspect as a commercial basin than it does now. But still it must have been far below Amoy Harbour in magnitude, depth, and accessibility. I have before recognised this, but saw no way to reconcile the proposed deduction with the positive historical facts already stated, which absolutely (to my mind) identify the Zayton of Polo and Rashiduddin with the Chinese city and port of T’swan-chau. Dr. Douglas, however, points out that the whole northern shore of Amoy Harbour, with the Islands of Amoy and Quemoy, are within the Fu or Department of T’swan-chau; and the latter name would, in Chinese parlance, apply equally to the city and to any part of the department. He cites among other analogous cases the Treaty Port Neuchwang (in Liao-tong). That city really lies 20 miles up the Liao River, but the name of Neuchwang is habitually applied by foreigners to Ying-tzŭ, which is the actual port. Even now much of the trade of T’swan-chau merchants is carried on through Amoy, either by junks touching, or by using the shorter sea-passage to ’An-hai, which was once a port of great trade, and is only 20 miles from T’swan-chau.[3] With such a haven as Amoy Harbour close by, it is improbable that Kúblái’s vast armaments would have made _rendezvous_ in the comparatively inconvenient port of T’swan-chau. Probably then the two were spoken of as one. In all this I recognise strong likelihood, and nothing inconsistent with recorded facts, or with Polo’s concise statements. It is even possible that (as Dr. Douglas thinks) Polo’s words intimate a distinction between Zayton the City and Zayton the Ocean Port; but for me Zayton the city, in Polo’s chapters, remains still T’swan-chau. Dr. Douglas, however, seems disposed to regard it as _Chang-chau_. The chief arguments urged for this last identity are: (1.) Ibn Batuta’s representation of his having embarked at Zayton “on the river,” _i.e._ on the internal navigation system of China, first for Sin-kalán (Canton), and afterwards for Kinsay. This could not, it is urged, be T’swan-chau, the river of which has no communication with the internal navigation, whereas the river at Chang-chau has such communication, constantly made use of in both directions (interrupted only by brief portages); (2.) Martini’s mention of the finding various Catholic remains, such as crosses and images of the Virgin, at Chang-chau, in the early part of the 17th century, indicating that city as the probable site of the Franciscan establishments. [I remember that the argument brought forward by Mr. Phillips in favour of Changchow which most forcibly struck Sir H. Yule, was the finding of various Christian remains at this place, and Mr. Phillips wrote (_Jour. China Br. R. A. Soc._ 1888, 27–28): “We learn from the history of the Franciscan missions that two churches were built in Zaitun, one in the city and the other in a forest not far from the town. MARTINI makes mention of relics being found in the city of Changchow, and also of a missal which he tried in vain to purchase from its owner, who gave as a reason for not parting with it, that it had been in his family for several generations. According to the history of the Spanish Dominicans in China, ruins of churches were used in rebuilding the city walls, many of the stones having crosses cut on them.” Another singular discovery relating to these missions, is one mentioned by Father VITTORIO RICCI, which would seem to point distinctly to the remains of the Franciscan church built by ANDRÉ DE PÉROUSE outside the city of Zaitun: “The heathen of Changchow,” says RICCI, “found buried in a neighbouring hill called Saysou another cross of a most beautiful form cut out of a single block of stone, which I had the pleasure of placing in my church in that city. The heathen were alike ignorant of the time when it was made and how it came to be buried there.”—H. C.] [Illustration: SKETCH MAP of the GREAT PORTS OF FOKIEN to illustrate the Identity of Marco Polo’s ZAYTON.] Whether the application by foreigners of the term Zayton, may, by some possible change in trade arrangements in the quarter-century after Polo’s departure from China, have undergone a transfer, is a question which it would be vain to answer positively without further evidence. But as regards Polo’s Zayton, I continue in the belief that this was T’swan-chau _and its haven_, with the admission that this haven may probably have embraced that great basin called Amoy Harbour, or part of it.[4] [Besides the two papers I have already mentioned, the late Mr. Phillips has published, since the last edition of Marco Polo, in the _T’oung-Pao_, VI. and VII.: _Two Mediæval Fuh-kien Trading Ports: Chüan-chow and Chang-chow_. He has certainly given many proofs of the importance of Chang-chau at the time of the Mongol Dynasty, and one might well hesitate (I know it was also the feeling of Sir Henry Yule at the end of his life) between this city and T’swan-chau, but the weak point of his controversy is his theory about Fu-chau. However, Mr. George Phillips, who died in 1896, gathered much valuable material, of which we have made use; it is only fair to pay this tribute to the memory of this learned consul.—H. C.] Martini (_circa_ 1650) describes T’swan-chau as delightfully situated on a promontory between two branches of the estuary which forms the harbour, and these so deep that the largest ships could come up to the walls on either side. A great suburb, Loyang, lay beyond the northern water, connected with the city by the most celebrated bridge in China. Collinson’s Chart in some points below the town gives only 1¼ fathom for the present depth, but Dr. Douglas tells me he has even now occasionally seen large junks come close to the city. Chinchew, though now occasionally visited by missionaries and others, is not a Treaty port, and we have not a great deal of information about its modern state. It is the head-quarters of the _T’i-tuh_, or general commanding the troops in Fo-kien. The walls have a circuit of 7 or 8 miles, but embracing much vacant ground. The chief exports now are tea and sugar, which are largely grown in the vicinity, tobacco, china-ware, nankeens, etc. There are still to be seen (as I learn from Mr. Phillips) the ruins of a fine mosque, said to have been founded by the Arab traders who resorted thither. The English Presbyterian Church Mission has had a chapel in the city for about ten years. Zayton, we have seen from Ibn Batuta’s report, was famed for rich satins called _Zaitúníah_. I have suggested in another work (_Cathay_, p. 486) that this may be the origin of our word _Satin_, through the _Zettani_ of mediæval Italian (or _Aceytuni_ of mediæval Spanish). And I am more strongly disposed to support this, seeing that Francisque-Michel, in considering the origin of _Satin_, hesitates between _Satalin_ from Satalia in Asia Minor and _Soudanin_ from the Soudan or Sultan; neither half so probable as _Zaituni_. I may add that in a French list of charges of 1352 we find the intermediate form _Zatony_. _Satin_ in the modern form occurs in Chaucer:— “In Surrie whilom dwelt a compagnie Of chapmen rich, and therto sad and trewe, That widë where senten their spicerie, Clothes of gold, and _satins_ riche of hewe.” —_Man of Lawe’s Tale_, st. 6. [Hatzfeld (_Dict._) derives _satin_ from the Italian _setino_; and _setino_ from SETA, pig’s hair, and gives the following example: “Deux aunes et un quartier de satin vremeil,” in _Caffiaux, Abattis de maisons à Gommegnies_, p. 17, 14th century. The Portuguese have _setim_. But I willingly accept Sir Henry Yule’s suggestion that the origin of the word is Zayton; cf. _zeitun_ زيتون olive. “The King [of Bijánagar] ... was clothed in a robe of _zaitún_ satin.” (_Elliot_, IV. p. 113, who adds in a note _zaitún_: Olive-coloured?) And again (_Ibid._ p. 120): “Before the throne there was placed a cushion of _zaitúni_ satin, round which three rows of the most exquisite pearls were sewn.”—H. C.] (_Recherches_, etc., II. 229 _seqq._; _Martini_, _circa_ p. 110; _Klaproth, Mém._ II. 209–210; _Cathay_, cxciii. 268, 223, 355, 486; _Empoli_ in _Append._ vol. iii. 87 to _Archivio Storico Italiano; Douet d’Arcq._ p. 342; _Galv., Discoveries of the World_, Hak. Soc. p. 129; Marsden, 1st ed. p. 372; _Appendix to Trade Report of Amoy_, for 1868 and 1900. [_Heyd, Com. Levant_, II. 701–702.]) NOTE 3.—We have referred in a former note (ch. lxxvii. note 7) to an apparent change in regard to the Chinese consumption of pepper, which is now said to be trifling. We shall see in the first chapter of Bk. III. that Polo estimates the tonnage of Chinese junks by the number of baskets of pepper they carried, and we have seen in last note the large estimate by Giov. d’Empoli of the quantity that went to China in 1515. Galvano also, speaking of the adventure of Fernão Perez d’Andrade to China in 1517, says that he took in at Pacem a cargo of pepper, “as being the chief article of trade that is valued in China.” And it is evident from what Marsden says in his _History of Sumatra_, that in the last century some tangible quantity was still sent to China. The export from the Company’s plantations in Sumatra averaged 1200 tons, of which the greater part came to Europe, _the rest_ went to China. [Couto says also: “Os portos principaes do Reyno da Sunda são Banta, Aché, Xacatara, por outro nome Caravão, aos quaes vam todos os annos mui perto de vinte sommas, que são embarcações do Chincheo, huma das Provincias maritimas da China, a carregar de pimenta, porque dá este Reyno todos os annos oito mil bares della, que são trinta mil quintaes.” (_Decada_ IV. Liv. III. Cap. I. 167.)] NOTE 4.—These tattooing artists were probably employed mainly by mariners frequenting the port. We do not know if the Malays practised tattooing before their conversion to Islam. But most Indo-Chinese races tattoo, and the Japanese still “have the greater part of the body and limbs scrolled over with bright-blue dragons, and lions, and tigers, and figures of men and women tattooed into their skins with the most artistic and elaborate ornamentation.” (_Alcock_, I. 191.) Probably the Arab sailors also indulged in the same kind of decoration. It is common among the Arab women now, and Della Valle speaks of it as in his time so much in vogue among both sexes through Egypt, Arabia, and Babylonia, that _he_ had not been able to escape. (I. 395.) NOTE 5.—The divergence in Ramusio’s version is here very notable: “The River which enters the Port of Zayton is great and wide, running with great velocity, and is a branch of that which flows by the city of Kinsay. And at the place where it quits the main channel is the city of Tingui, of which all that is to be said is that there they make porcelain basins and dishes. The manner of making porcelain was thus related to him. They excavate a certain kind of earth, as it were from a mine, and this they heap into great piles, and then leave it undisturbed and exposed to wind, rain, and sun for 30 or 40 years. In this space of time the earth becomes sufficiently refined for the manufacture of porcelain; they then colour it at their discretion, and bake it in a furnace. Those who excavate the clay do so always therefore for their sons and grandsons. The articles are so cheap in that city that you get 8 bowls for a Venice groat.” Ibn Batuta speaks of porcelain as manufactured at Zayton; indeed he says positively (and wrongly): “Porcelain is made nowhere in China except in the cities of Zaitun and Sinkalan” (Canton). A good deal of China ware in modern times _is_ made in Fo-kien and Canton provinces, and it is still an article of export from T’swan-chau and Amoy; but it is only of a very ordinary kind. Pakwiha, between Amoy and Chang-chau, is mentioned in the _Chinese Commercial Guide_ (p. 114) as now the place where the coarse blue ware, so largely exported to India, etc., is largely manufactured; and Phillips mentions Tung-’an (about half-way between T’swan-chau and Chang-chau) as a great seat of this manufacture. Looking, however, to the Ramusian interpolations, which do not indicate a locality necessarily near Zayton, or even in Fo-kien, it is possible that Murray is right in supposing the place intended _in these_ to be really _King-tê chên_ in Kiang-si, the great seat of the manufacture of genuine porcelain, or rather its chief mart JAU-CHAU FU on the P’o-yang Lake. The geographical indication of this city of porcelain, as at the place where a branch of the River of Kinsay flows off towards Zayton, points to a notion prevalent in the Middle Ages as to the interdivergence of rivers in general, and especially of Chinese rivers. This notion will be found well embodied in the Catalan Map, and something like it in the maps of the Chinese themselves;[5] it is a ruling idea with Ibn Batuta, who, as we have seen (in note 2), speaks of the River of Zayton as connected in the interior with “the Great River,” and who travels by this waterway accordingly from Zayton to Kinsay, taking no notice of the mountains of Fo-kien. So also (_supra_, p. 175) Rashiduddin had been led to suppose that the Great Canal extended to Zayton. With apparently the same idea of one Great River of China with many ramifications, Abulfeda places most of the great cities of China upon “The River.” The “Great River of China,” with its branches to Kinsay, is alluded to in a like spirit by Wassáf (_supra_, p. 213). Polo has already indicated the same idea (p. 219). Assuming this as the notion involved in the passage from Ramusio, the position of _Jau-chau_ might be fairly described as that of Tingui is therein, standing as it does on the P’o-yang Lake, from which there is such a ramification of internal navigation, _e.g._ to Kinsay or Hang-chau fu directly by Kwansin, the Chang-shan portage already referred to (_supra_, p. 222), and the Ts’ien T’ang (and this is the Kinsay River line to which I imagine Polo here to refer), or circuitously by the Yang-tzŭ and Great Canal; to Canton by the portage of the Meiling Pass; and to the cities of Fo-kien either by the Kwansin River or by Kian-chan fu, further south, with a portage in each case across the Fo-kien mountains. None of our maps give any idea of the extent of internal navigation in China. (See _Klaproth, Mém_. vol. iii.) The story of the life-long period during which the porcelain clay was exposed to temper long held its ground, and probably was only dispelled by the publication of the details of the King-tê chên manufacture by Père d’Entrecolles in the _Lettres Edifiantes_. NOTE 6.—The meagre statement in the French texts shows merely that Polo had heard of the Fo-kien dialect. The addition from Ramusio shows further that he was aware of the unity of the written character throughout China, but gives no indication of knowledge of its peculiar principles, nor of the extent of difference in the spoken dialects. Even different districts of Fo-kien, according to Martini, use dialects so different that they understand each other with difficulty (108). [Mendoza already said: “It is an admirable thing to consider how that in that kingdome they doo speake manie languages, the one differing from the other: yet generallie in writing they doo understand one the other, and in speaking not.” (_Parke’s Transl._ p. 93.)] Professor Kidd, speaking of his instructors in the Mandarin and Fo-kien dialects respectively, says: “The teachers in both cases read the same books, composed in the same style, and attached precisely the same ideas to the written symbols, but could not understand each other in conversation.” Moreover, besides these sounds attaching to the Chinese characters when read in the dialect of Fo-kien, thus discrepant from the sounds used in reading the same characters in the Mandarin dialect, yet _another_ class of sounds is used to express the same ideas in the Fo-kien dialect when it is used colloquially and without reference to written symbols! (_Kidd’s China_, etc., pp. 21–23.) The term _Fokien dialect_ in the preceding passage is ambiguous, as will be seen from the following remarks, which have been derived from the Preface and Appendices to the Rev. Dr. Douglas’s Dictionary of the Spoken Language of Amoy,[6] and which throw a distinct light on the subject of this note:— “The vernacular or spoken language of Amoy is not a mere colloquial dialect or _patois_, it is a _distinct language_—one of the many and widely differing spoken languages which divide among them the soil of China. For these spoken languages are not _dialects_ of one language, but cognate languages, bearing to each other a relation similar to that between Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac, or between English, Dutch, German, and Danish. The so-called ‘_written language_’ is indeed uniform throughout the whole country, but that is rather a _notation_ than a language. And this written language, as read aloud from books, is not _spoken_ in any place whatever, under any form of pronunciation. The most learned men never employ it as a means of ordinary oral communication even among themselves. It is, in fact, a _dead language_, related to the various spoken languages of China, somewhat as Latin is to the languages of Southern Europe. “Again: Dialects, properly speaking, of the Amoy vernacular language are found (_e.g._) in the neighbouring districts of Changchew, Chinchew, and Tungan, and the language with its subordinate dialects is believed to be spoken by 8 or 10 millions of people. Of the other languages of China the most nearly related to the Amoy is the vernacular of Chau-chau-fu, often called ‘the Swatow dialect,’ from the only treaty-port in that region. The ancestors of the people speaking it emigrated many years ago from Fuh-kien, and are still distinguished there by the appellation _Hok-ló_, _i.e._ people from Hok-kien (or Fuh-kien). This language differs from the Amoy, much as Dutch differs from German, or Portuguese from Spanish. “In the Island of Hai-nan (Hái-lâm), again (setting aside the central aborigines), a language is spoken which differs from Amoy more than that of Swatow, but is more nearly related to these two than to any other of the languages of China. “In Fuh-chau fu we have another language which is largely spoken in the centre and north of Fuh-kien. This has many points of resemblance to the Amoy, but is quite unintelligible to the Amoy people, with the exception of an occasional word or phrase. “Hing-hwa fu (Heng-hoà), between Fuh-chau and Chinchew, has also a language of its own, though containing only two _Hien_ districts. It is alleged to be unintelligible both at Amoy and at Fuhchau. “To the other languages of China that of Amoy is less closely related; yet all evidently spring from one common stock. But that common stock is _not_ the modern Mandarin dialect, but the ancient form of the Chinese language as spoken some 3000 years ago. The so-called _Mandarin_, far from being the original form, is usually more changed than any. It is in the ancient form of the language (naturally) that the relation of Chinese to other languages can best be traced; and as the Amoy vernacular, which very generally retains the final consonants in their original shape, has been one of the chief sources from which the ancient form of Chinese has been recovered, the study of that vernacular is of considerable importance.” NOTE 7.—This is inconsistent with his former statements as to the supreme wealth of Kinsay. But with Marco the subject in hand is always _pro magnifico_. Ramusio says that the Traveller will now “begin to speak of the territories, cities, and provinces of the Greater, Lesser, and Middle India, in which regions he was when in the service of the Great Kaan, being sent thither on divers matters of business. And then again when he returned to the same quarter with the queen of King Argon, and with his father and uncle, on his way back to his native land. So he will relate the strange things that he saw in those Indies, not omitting others which he heard related by persons of reputation and worthy of credit, and things that were pointed out to him on the maps of manners of the Indies aforesaid.” [Illustration: The Kaan’s Fleet leaving the Port of Zayton.] [Illustration: Marco Polo’s Itineraries Nᵒ. VI. (Book II, Chapters 67–82) Journey through Manzi _Polo’s names thus_ Kinsay] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Dr. C. Douglas objects to this derivation of _Zayton_, that the place was never called _Tseut’ung_ absolutely, but _T’seu-t’ung-ching_, “city of prickly T’ung-trees”; and this not as a name, but as a polite literary epithet, somewhat like “City of Palaces” applied to Calcutta. [2] Giovanni did not get to Zayton; but two years later he got to Canton with Fernão Perez, was sent ashore as Factor, and a few days after died of fever. (De Barros, III. II. viii.) The way in which Botero, a compiler in the latter part of the 16th century, speaks of Zayton as between Canton and Liampo (Ningpo), and exporting immense quantities of porcelain, salt and sugar, looks as if he had before him modern information as to the place. He likewise observes, “All the moderns note the port of Zaiton between Canton and Liampo.” Yet I know no other modern allusion except Giovanni d’Empoli’s; and that was printed only a few years ago. (_Botero, Relazione Universale_, pp. 97, 228.) [3] Martini says of Ganhai (’An-Hai or Ngan-Hai), “Ingens hic mercium ac Sinensium navium copia est ... ex his (’Anhai and Amoy) in totam Indiam merces avehuntur.” [4] Dr. Douglas assures me that the cut at p. 245 is an _excellent_ view of the entrance to the S. channel of the _Chang-chau River_, though I derived it from a professed view of the mouth of the _Chinchew River_. I find he is quite right; see _List of Illustrations_. [5] In a modern Chinese geographical work abstracted by Mr. Laidlay, we are told that the great river of _Tsim-lo_, or Siam, “penetrates to a branch of the Hwang-Ho.” (_J. A. S. B._ XVII. Pt. I. 157.) [6] CHINESE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY _of the Vernacular or Spoken language of Amoy, with the principal variations of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew Dialects_; _by the_ Rev. Carstairs Douglas, M.A., LL.D., Glasg., Missionary of the Presb. Church in England. (Trübner, 1873.) I must note that I have not access to the book itself, but condense these remarks from extracts and abstracts made by a friend at my request. BOOK THIRD. JAPAN, THE ARCHIPELAGO, SOUTHERN INDIA, AND THE COASTS AND ISLANDS OF THE INDIAN SEA [Illustration: The Kaan’s Fleet passing through the Indian Archipelago. “=Fist aparoiller xiv. nés, lesquels avoit chascune iv. arbres, et maintes foies aloient à xii. voiles ... et najérent bién iii. mois, tant k’il vindrent a vne Ysle qui es ver midi ...=”] BOOK III. CHAPTER I. OF THE MERCHANT SHIPS OF MANZI THAT SAIL UPON THE INDIAN SEAS. Having finished our discourse concerning those countries wherewith our Book hath been occupied thus far, we are now about to enter on the subject of INDIA, and to tell you of all the wonders thereof. And first let us speak of the ships in which merchants go to and fro amongst the Isles of India. These ships, you must know, are of fir timber.{1} They have but one deck, though each of them contains some 50 or 60 cabins, wherein the merchants abide greatly at their ease, every man having one to himself. The ship hath but one rudder, but it hath four masts; and sometimes they have two additional masts, which they ship and unship at pleasure.{2} [Moreover the larger of their vessels have some thirteen compartments or severances in the interior, made with planking strongly framed, in case mayhap the ship should spring a leak, either by running on a rock or by the blow of a hungry whale (as shall betide ofttimes, for when the ship in her course by night sends a ripple back alongside of the whale, the creature seeing the foam fancies there is something to eat afloat, and makes a rush forward, whereby it often shall stave in some part of the ship). In such case the water that enters the leak flows to the bilge, which is always kept clear; and the mariners having ascertained where the damage is, empty the cargo from that compartment into those adjoining, for the planking is so well fitted that the water cannot pass from one compartment to another. They then stop the leak and replace the lading.{3}] The fastenings are all of good iron nails and the sides are double, one plank laid over the other, and caulked outside and in. The planks are not pitched, for those people do not have any pitch, but they daub the sides with another matter, deemed by them far better than pitch; it is this. You see they take some lime and some chopped hemp, and these they knead together with a certain wood-oil; and when the three are thoroughly amalgamated, they hold like any glue. And with this mixture they do paint their ships.{4} Each of their great ships requires at least 200 mariners [some of them 300]. They are indeed of great size, for one ship shall carry 5000 or 6000 baskets of pepper [and they used formerly to be larger than they are now]. And aboard these ships, you must know, when there is no wind they use sweeps, and these sweeps are so big that to pull them requires four mariners to each.{5} Every great ship has certain large barks or tenders attached to it; these are large enough to carry 1000 baskets of pepper, and carry 50 or 60 mariners apiece [some of them 80 or 100], and they are likewise moved by oars; they assist the great ship by towing her, at such times as her sweeps are in use [or even when she is under sail, if the wind be somewhat on the beam; not if the wind be astern, for then the sails of the big ship would take the wind out of those of the tenders, and she would run them down]. Each ship has two [or three] of these barks, but one is bigger than the others. There are also some ten [small] boats for the service of each great ship, to lay out the anchors, catch fish, bring supplies aboard, and the like. When the ship is under sail she carries these boats slung to her sides. And the large tenders have their boats in like manner. When the ship has been a year in work and they wish to repair her, they nail on a third plank over the first two, and caulk and pay it well; and when another repair is wanted they nail on yet another plank, and so on year by year as it is required. Howbeit, they do this only for a certain number of years, and till there are six thicknesses of planking. When a ship has come to have six planks on her sides, one over the other, they take her no more on the high seas, but make use of her for coasting as long as she will last, and then they break her up.{6} Now that I have told you about the ships which sail upon the Ocean Sea and among the Isles of India, let us proceed to speak of the various wonders of India; but first and foremost I must tell you about a number of Islands that there are in that part of the Ocean Sea where we now are, I mean the Islands lying to the eastward. So let us begin with an Island which is called Chipangu. NOTE 1.—Pine [_Pinus sinensis_] is [still] the staple timber for ship-building both at Canton and in Fo-kien. There is a very large export of it from Fu-chau, and even the chief fuel at that city is from a kind of fir. Several varieties of pine-wood are also brought down the rivers for sale at Canton. (_N. and Q._, _China and Japan_, I. 170; _Fortune_, I. 286; _Doolittle_.) NOTE 2.—Note the _one rudder_ again. (_Supra_, Bk. I. ch. xix. note 3.) One of the shifting masts was probably a bowsprit, which, according to Lecomte, the Chinese occasionally use, very slight, and planted on the larboard bow. NOTE 3.—The system of water-tight compartments, for the description of which we have to thank Ramusio’s text, in our own time introduced into European construction, is still maintained by the Chinese, not only in sea-going junks, but in the larger river craft. (See _Mid. Kingd._ II. 25; _Blakiston_, 88; _Deguignes_, I. 204–206.) NOTE 4.—This still remains quite correct, hemp, old nets, and the fibre of a certain creeper being used for oakum. The _wood-oil_ is derived from a tree called _Tong-shu_, I do not know if identical with the wood-oil trees of Arakan and Pegu (_Dipterocarpus laevis_). [“What goes under the name of ‘wood-oil’ to-day in China is the poisonous oil obtained from the nuts of _Elæococca verrucosa_. It is much used for painting and caulking ships.” (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 4.)—H. C.] NOTE 5.—The junks that visit Singapore still use these sweeps. (_J. Ind. Arch._ II. 607.) Ibn Batuta puts a much larger number of men to each. It will be seen from his account below that great ropes were attached to the oars to pull by, the bulk of timber being too large to grasp; as in the old French galleys wooden _manettes_ or grips, were attached to the oar for the same purpose. NOTE 6.—The Chinese sea-going vessels of those days were apparently larger than was at all common in European navigation. Marco here speaks of 200 (or in Ramusio up to 300) mariners, a large crew indeed for a merchant vessel, but not so great as is implied in Odoric’s statement, that the ship in which he went from India to China had 700 souls on board. The numbers carried by Chinese junks are occasionally still enormous. “In February, 1822, Captain Pearl, of the English ship _Indiana_, coming through Caspar Straits, fell in with the cargo and crew of a wrecked junk, and saved 198 persons out of 1600, with whom she had left Amoy, whom he landed at Pontianak. This humane act cost him 11,000_l._” (Quoted by _Williams_ from _Chin. Rep._ VI. 149.) The following are some other mediæval accounts of the China shipping, all unanimous as to the main facts. _Friar Jordanus_:—“The vessels which they navigate to Cathay be very big, and have upon the ship’s hull more than one hundred cabins, and with a fair wind they carry ten sails, and they are very bulky, being made of three thicknesses of plank, so that the first thickness is as in our great ships, the second crosswise, the third again longwise. In sooth, ’tis a very strong affair!” (55.) _Nicolo Conti_:—“They build some ships much larger than ours, capable of containing 2000 butts (_vegetes_), with five masts and five sails. The lower part is constructed with triple planking, in order to withstand the force of the tempests to which they are exposed. And the ships are divided into compartments, so formed that if one part be shattered the rest remains in good order, and enables the vessel to complete its voyage.” _Ibn Batuta_:—“Chinese ships only are used in navigating the sea of China.... There are three classes of these: (1) the Large, which are called _Jonúk_ (sing. _Junk_); (2) the Middling, which are called _Zao_; and (3) the Small, called _Kakam_. Each of the greater ships has from twelve sails down to three. These are made of bamboo laths woven into a kind of mat; they are never lowered, and they are braced this way and that as the wind may blow. When these vessels anchor the sails are allowed to fly loose. Each ship has a crew of 1000 men, viz. 600 mariners and 400 soldiers, among whom are archers, target-men, and cross-bow men to shoot naphtha. Each large vessel is attended by three others, which are called respectively ‘The Half,’ ‘The Third,’ and ‘The Quarter.’ These vessels are built only at Zayton, in China, and at Sínkalán or Sín-ul-Sín (_i.e._ Canton). This is the way they are built. They construct two walls of timber, which they connect by very thick slabs of wood, clenching all fast this way and that with huge spikes, each of which is three cubits in length. When the two walls have been united by these slabs they apply the bottom planking, and then launch the hull before completing the construction. The timbers projecting from the sides towards the water serve the crew for going down to wash and for other needs. And to these projecting timbers are attached the oars, which are like masts in size, and need from 10 to 15 men[1] to ply each of them. There are about 20 of these great oars, and the rowers at each oar stand in two ranks facing one another. The oars are provided with two strong cords or cables; each rank pulls at one of these and then lets go, whilst the other rank pulls on the opposite cable. These rowers have a pleasant chaunt at their work usually, singing Lá’ la! Lá’ la![2] The three tenders which we have mentioned above also use oars, and tow the great ships when required. “On each ship four decks are constructed; and there are cabins and public rooms for the merchants. Some of these cabins are provided with closets and other conveniences, and they have keys so that their tenants can lock them, and carry with them their wives or concubines. The crew in some of the cabins have their children, and they sow kitchen herbs, ginger, etc., in wooden buckets. The captain is a very great Don; and when he lands, the archers and negro-slaves march before him with javelins, swords, drums, horns, and trumpets.” (IV. pp. 91 _seqq._ and 247 _seqq._ combined.) Comparing this very interesting description with Polo’s, we see that they agree in all essentials except size and the number of decks. It is not unlikely that the revival of the trade with India, which Kúblái stimulated, may have in its development under his successors led to the revival also of the larger ships of former times to which Marco alludes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Or even 30 (p. 248). [2] Corresponding to the “Hevelow and rumbelow” of the Christian oarsmen. (See _Cœur de Lion_ in _Weber_, II. 99.) CHAPTER II. DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF CHIPANGU, AND THE GREAT KAAN’S DESPATCH OF A HOST AGAINST IT. Chipangu is an Island towards the east in the high seas, 1500 miles distant from the Continent; and a very great Island it is.{1} The people are white, civilized, and well-favoured. They are Idolaters, and are dependent on nobody. And I can tell you the quantity of gold they have is endless; for they find it in their own Islands, [and the King does not allow it to be exported. Moreover] few merchants visit the country because it is so far from the main land, and thus it comes to pass that their gold is abundant beyond all measure.{2} I will tell you a wonderful thing about the Palace of the Lord of that Island. You must know that he hath a great Palace which is entirely roofed with fine gold, just as our churches are roofed with lead, insomuch that it would scarcely be possible to estimate its value. Moreover, all the pavement of the Palace, and the floors of its chambers, are entirely of gold, in plates like slabs of stone, a good two fingers thick; and the windows also are of gold, so that altogether the richness of this Palace is past all bounds and all belief.{3} [Illustration: Ancient Japanese Emperor. (After a Native Drawing; from Humbert.)] They have also pearls in abundance, which are of a rose colour, but fine, big, and round, and quite as valuable as the white ones. [In this Island some of the dead are buried, and others are burnt. When a body is burnt, they put one of these pearls in the mouth, for such is their custom.] They have also quantities of other precious stones.{4} Cublay, the Grand Kaan who now reigneth, having heard much of the immense wealth that was in this Island, formed a plan to get possession of it. For this purpose he sent two of his Barons with a great navy, and a great force of horse and foot. These Barons were able and valiant men, one of them called ABACAN and the other VONSAINCHIN, and they weighed with all their company from the ports of Zayton and Kinsay, and put out to sea. They sailed until they reached the Island aforesaid, and there they landed, and occupied the open country and the villages, but did not succeed in getting possession of any city or castle. And so a disaster befel them, as I shall now relate. You must know that there was much ill-will between those two Barons, so that one would do nothing to help the other. And it came to pass that there arose a north wind which blew with great fury, and caused great damage along the coasts of that Island, for its harbours were few. It blew so hard that the Great Kaan’s fleet could not stand against it. And when the chiefs saw that, they came to the conclusion that if the ships remained where they were the whole navy would perish. So they all got on board and made sail to leave the country. But when they had gone about four miles they came to a small Island, on which they were driven ashore in spite of all they could do; and a large part of the fleet was wrecked, and a great multitude of the force perished, so that there escaped only some 30,000 men, who took refuge on this Island. These held themselves for dead men, for they were without food, and knew not what to do, and they were in great despair when they saw that such of the ships as had escaped the storm were making full sail for their own country without the slightest sign of turning back to help them. And this was because of the bitter hatred between the two Barons in command of the force; for the Baron who escaped never showed the slightest desire to return to his colleague who was left upon the Island in the way you have heard; though he might easily have done so after the storm ceased; and it endured not long. He did nothing of the kind, however, but made straight for home. And you must know that the Island to which the soldiers had escaped was uninhabited; there was not a creature upon it but themselves. Now we will tell you what befel those who escaped on the fleet, and also those who were left upon the Island. NOTE 1.—✛CHIPANGU represents the Chinese _Jih-pên-kwé_, the kingdom of Japan, the name Jih-pên being the Chinese pronunciation, of which the term _Nippon_, _Niphon_ or _Nihon_, used in Japan, is a dialectic variation, both meaning “the origin of the sun,” or sun-rising, the place the sun comes from. The name _Chipangu_ is used also by Rashiduddin. Our _Japan_ was probably taken from the Malay _Japún_ or _Japáng_. [“The name _Nihon_ (‘Japan’) seems to have been first officially employed by the Japanese Government in A.D. 670. Before that time, the usual native designation of the country was _Yamato_, properly the name of one of the central provinces. Yamato and _Ō-mi-kuni_, that is, ‘the Great August Country,’ are the names still preferred in poetry and _belles-lettres_. Japan has other ancient names, some of which are of learned length and thundering sound, for instance, _Toyo-ashi-wara-no-chi-aki-no-naga-i-ho-aki-no-mizu-ho-no-kuni_, that is ‘the Luxuriant-Reed-Plains-the-Land-of-Fresh-Rice-Ears-of- a-Thousand-Autumns-of-Long-Five-Hundred-Autumns.’” (_B. H. Chamberlain_, _Things Japanese_, 3rd ed. p. 222.)—H. C.] It is remarkable that the name _Nipon_ occurs, in the form of _Al-Náfún_, in the _Ikhwán-al-Safá_, supposed to date from the 10th century. (See _J. A. S. B._ XVII. Pt. I. 502.) [I shall merely mention the strange theory of Mr. George Collingridge that _Zipangu_ is Java and not Japan in his paper on _The Early Cartography of Japan_. (_Geog. Jour._ May, 1894, pp. 403–409.) Mr. F. G. Kramp (_Japan or Java?_), in the _Tijdschrift v. het K. Nederl. Aardrijkskundig Genootschap_, 1894, and Mr. H. Yule Oldham (_Geog. Jour._, September, 1894, pp. 276–279), have fully replied to this paper.—H. C.] NOTE 2.—The causes briefly mentioned in the text maintained the abundance and low price of gold in Japan till the recent opening of the trade. (See Bk. II. ch. 1. note 5.) Edrisi had heard that gold in the isles of Sila (or Japan) was so abundant that dog-collars were made of it. NOTE 3.—This was doubtless an old “yarn,” repeated from generation to generation. We find in a Chinese work quoted by Amyot: “The palace of the king (of Japan) is remarkable for its singular construction. It is a vast edifice, of extraordinary height; it has nine stories, and presents on all sides an exterior shining with the purest gold.” (_Mém. conc. les Chinois_, XIV. 55.) See also a like story in Kaempfer. (_H. du Japon_, I. 139.) [Illustration: Ancient Japanese Archer. (From a Native Drawing.)] NOTE 4.—Kaempfer speaks of pearls being found in considerable numbers, chiefly about Satsuma, and in the Gulf of Omura, in Kiusiu. From what Alcock says they do not seem now to be abundant. (_Ib._ I. 95; _Alcock_, I. 200.) No precious stones are mentioned by Kaempfer. Rose-tinted pearls are frequent among the Scotch pearls, and, according to Mr. King, those of this tint are of late the most highly esteemed in Paris. Such pearls were perhaps also most highly esteemed in old India; for red pearls (_Lohitamukti_) form one of the seven precious objects which it was incumbent to use in the adornment of Buddhistic reliquaries, and to distribute at the building of a Dagoba. (_Nat. Hist. of Prec. Stones_, etc., 263; _Koeppen_, I. 541.) CHAPTER III. WHAT FURTHER CAME OF THE GREAT KAAN’S EXPEDITION AGAINST CHIPANGU. You see those who were left upon the Island, some 30,000 souls, as I have said, did hold themselves for dead men, for they saw no possible means of escape. And when the King of the Great Island got news how the one part of the expedition had saved themselves upon that Isle, and the other part was scattered and fled, he was right glad thereat, and he gathered together all the ships of his territory and proceeded with them, the sea now being calm, to the little Isle, and landed his troops all round it. And when the Tartars saw them thus arrive, and the whole force landed, without any guard having been left on board the ships (the act of men very little acquainted with such work), they had the sagacity to feign flight. [Now the Island was very high in the middle, and whilst the enemy were hastening after them by one road they fetched a compass by another and] in this way managed to reach the enemy’s ships and to get aboard of them. This they did easily enough, for they encountered no opposition. Once they were on board they got under weigh immediately for the great Island, and landed there, carrying with them the standards and banners of the King of the Island; and in this wise they advanced to the capital. The garrison of the city, suspecting nothing wrong, when they saw their own banners advancing supposed that it was their own host returning, and so gave them admittance. The Tartars as soon as they had got in seized all the bulwarks and drove out all who were in the place except the pretty women, and these they kept for themselves. In this way the Great Kaan’s people got possession of the city. When the King of the great Island and his army perceived that both fleet and city were lost, they were greatly cast down; howbeit, they got away to the great Island on board some of the ships which had not been carried off. And the King then gathered all his host to the siege of the city, and invested it so straitly that no one could go in or come out. Those who were within held the place for seven months, and strove by all means to send word to the Great Kaan; but it was all in vain, they never could get the intelligence carried to him. So when they saw they could hold out no longer they gave themselves up, on condition that their lives should be spared, but still that they should never quit the Island. And this befel in the year of our Lord 1279.{1} The Great Kaan ordered the Baron who had fled so disgracefully to lose his head. And afterwards he caused the other also, who had been left on the Island, to be put to death, for he had never behaved as a good soldier ought to do.{2} But I must tell you a wonderful thing that I had forgotten, which happened on this expedition. You see, at the beginning of the affair, when the Kaan’s people had landed on the great Island and occupied the open country as I told you, they stormed a tower belonging to some of the islanders who refused to surrender, and they cut off the heads of all the garrison except eight; on these eight they found it impossible to inflict any wound! Now this was by virtue of certain stones which they had in their arms inserted between the skin and the flesh, with such skill as not to show at all externally. And the charm and virtue of these stones was such that those who wore them could never perish by steel. So when the Barons learned this they ordered the men to be beaten to death with clubs. And after their death the stones were extracted from the bodies of all, and were greatly prized.{3} Now the story of the discomfiture of the Great Kaan’s folk came to pass as I have told you. But let us have done with that matter, and return to our subject. NOTE 1.—Kúblái had long hankered after the conquest of Japan, or had at least, after his fashion, desired to obtain an acknowledgment of supremacy from the Japanese sovereign. He had taken steps in this view as early as 1266, but entirely without success. The fullest accessible particulars respecting his efforts are contained in the Japanese Annals translated by Titsing; and these are in complete accordance with the Chinese histories as given by Gaubil, De Mailla, and in Pauthier’s extracts, so far as these three latter enter into particulars. But it seems clear from the comparison that the Japanese chronicler had the Chinese Annals in his hands. In 1268, 1269, 1270, and 1271, Kúblái’s efforts were repeated to little purpose, and, provoked at this, in 1274, he sent a fleet of 300 vessels with 15,000 men against Japan. This was defeated near the Island of Tsushima with heavy loss. Nevertheless Kúblái seems in the following years to have renewed his attempts at negotiation. The Japanese patience was exhausted, and, in 1280, they put one of his ambassadors to death. “As soon as the Moko (Mongols) heard of this, they assembled a considerable army to conquer Japan. When informed of their preparations, the Dairi sent ambassadors to Ize and other temples to invoke the gods. Fosiono Toki Mune, who resided at Kama Kura, ordered troops to assemble at Tsukuzi (_Tsikouzen_ of Alcock’s Map), and sent ... numerous detachments to Miyako to guard the Dairi and the Togou (Heir Apparent) against all danger.... In the first moon (of 1281) the Mongols named Asikan (Ngo Tsa-han[1]), Fan-bunko (Fan Wen-hu), Kinto (Hintu), and Kosakio (Hung Cha-khieu), Generals of their army, which consisted of 100,000 men, and was embarked on numerous ships of war. Asikan fell ill on the passage, and this made the second General (Fan Wen-hu) undecided as to his course. “_7th Month_. The entire fleet arrived at the Island of Firando (P’hing-hu), and passed thence to Goriosan (Ulungshan). The troops of Tsukuzi were under arms. _1st_ of _3rd Month_. A frightful storm arose; the Mongol ships foundered or were sorely shattered. The General (Fan Wen-hu) fled with the other Generals on the vessels that had least suffered; nobody has ever heard what became of them. The army of 100,000 men, which had landed below Goriosan, wandered about for three days without provisions; and the soldiers began to plan the building of vessels in which they might escape to China. “_7th day_. The Japanese army invested and attacked them with great vigour. The Mongols were totally defeated. 30,000 of them were made prisoners and conducted to Fakata (the _Fokouoka_ of Alcock’s Map, but _Fakatta_ in Kaempfer’s), and there put to death. Grace was extended to only (three men), who were sent to China with the intelligence of the fate of the army. The destruction of so numerous a fleet was considered the most evident proof of the protection of the gods.” (_Titsingh_, pp. 264–265.) At p. 259 of the same work Klaproth gives another account from the Japanese Encyclopædia; the difference is not material. The Chinese Annals, in De Mailla, state that the Japanese spared 10,000 or 12,000 of the Southern Chinese, whom they retained as slaves. Gaubil says that 30,000 Mongols were put to death, whilst 70,000 Coreans and Chinese were made slaves. Kúblái was loth to put up with this huge discomfiture, and in 1283 he made preparations for another expedition; but the project excited strong discontent; so strong that some Buddhist monks whom he sent before to collect information, were thrown overboard by the Chinese sailors; and he gave it up. (_De Mailla_, IX. 409; 418, 428; _Gaubil_, 195; _Deguignes_, III. 177.) [Illustration: Japanese in fight with Chinese. (After Siebold, from an ancient Japanese drawing.) “=Or ensint avint ceste estoire de la desconfiture de les gens dou Grant Kaan.=”] The Abacan of Polo is probably the Asikan of the Japanese, whom Gaubil calls _Argan_. Vonsainchin is _perhaps_ Fan Wen-hu with the Chinese title of _Tsiang-Kiun_ or General (elsewhere represented in Polo by _Sangon_),—FAN TSIANG-KIUN. We see that, as usual, whilst Marco’s account in some of the main features concurs with that of the histories, he gives a good many additional particulars, some of which, such as the ill-will between the Generals, are no doubt genuine. But of the story of the capture of the Japanese capital by the shipwrecked army we know not what to make: we can’t accept it certainly. [The _Korea Review_ publishes a _History of Korea_ based upon Korean and Chinese sources, from which we gather some interesting facts regarding the relations of China, Korea, and Japan at the time of Kúblái: “In 1265, the seed was sown that led to the attempted invasion of Japan by the Mongols. A Koryŭ citizen, Cho I., found his way to Peking, and there, having gained the ear of the emperor, told him that the Mongol powers ought to secure the vassalage of Japan. The emperor listened favourably and determined to make advances in that direction. He therefore appointed Heuk Chŭk and Eun Hong as envoys to Japan, and ordered them to go by way of Koryŭ and take with them to Japan a Koryŭ envoy as well. Arriving in Koryŭ they delivered this message to the king, and two officials, Son Kun-bi and Kim Ch’an, were appointed to accompany them to Japan. They proceeded by the way of Kŏje Harbor in Kyŭng-sang Province, but were driven back by a fierce storm, and the king sent the Mongol envoys back to Peking. The Emperor was ill satisfied with the outcome of the adventure, and sent Heuk Chŭk with a letter to the king, ordering him to forward the Mongol envoy to Japan. The message which he was to deliver to the ruler of Japan said, ‘The Mongol power is kindly disposed towards you and desires to open friendly intercourse with you. She does not desire your submission, but if you accept her patronage, the great Mongol empire will cover the earth.’ The king forwarded the message with the envoys to Japan, and informed the emperor of the fact.... The Mongol and Koryŭ envoys, upon reaching the Japanese capital, were treated with marked disrespect.... They remained five months, ... and at last they were dismissed without receiving any answer either to the emperor or to the king.” (II. pp. 37, 38.) Such was the beginning of the difficulties with Japan; this is the end of them: “The following year, 1283, changed the emperor’s purpose. He had time to hear the whole story of the sufferings of his army in the last invasion; the impossibility of squeezing anything more out of Koryŭ, and the delicate condition of home affairs, united in causing him to give up the project of conquering Japan, and he countermanded the order for the building of boats and the storing of grain.” (II. p. 82.) Japan was then, for more than a century (A.D. 1205–1333), governed really in the name of the descendants of Yoritomo, who proved unworthy of their great ancestor “by the so-called ‘Regents’ of the Hōjō family, while their liege lords, the Shōguns, though keeping a nominal court at Kamakura, were for all that period little better than empty names. So completely were the Hōjōs masters of the whole country, that they actually had their deputy governors at Kyōtō and in Kyūshū in the south-west, and thought nothing of banishing Mikados to distant islands. Their rule was made memorable by the repulse of the Mongol fleet sent by Kúblái Khan with the purpose of adding Japan to his gigantic dominions. This was at the end of the 13th century, since which time Japan has never been attacked from without.” (_B. H. Chamberlain_, _Things Japanese_, 3rd ed., 1898, pp. 208–209.) The sovereigns (_Mikado_, _Tennō_) of Japan during this period were: _Kameyama_-Tennō (1260; abdicated 1274; repulse of the Mongols); _Go-Uda_-Tennō (1275; abdicated 1287); _Fushimi_-Tennō (1288; abdicated 1298); and _Go-Fushimi_ Tennō. The _shikken_ (prime ministers) were Hōjō _Tokiyori_ (1246); Hōjō _Tokimune_ (1261); Hōjō _Sadatoki_ (1284). In 1266 Prince _Kore-yasu_ and in 1289 _Hisa-akira_, were appointed _shōgun_.—H. C.] NOTE 2.—_Ram._ says he was sent to a certain island called Zorza (_Chorcha?_), where men who have failed in duty are put to death in this manner: They wrap the arms of the victim in the hide of a newly flayed buffalo, and sew it tight. As this dries it compresses him so terribly that he cannot move, and so, finding no help, his life ends in misery. The same kind of torture is reported of different countries in the East: _e.g._ see _Makrizi_, Pt. III. p. 108, and Pottinger, as quoted by Marsden _in loco_. It also appears among the tortures of a Buddhist hell as represented in a temple at Canton. (_Oliphant’s Narrative_, I. 168.) NOTE 3.—Like devices to procure invulnerability are common in the Indo-Chinese countries. The Burmese sometimes insert pellets of gold under the skin with this view. At a meeting of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1868, gold and silver coins were shown, which had been extracted from under the skin of a Burmese convict who had been executed at the Andaman Islands. Friar Odoric speaks of the practice in one of the Indian Islands (apparently Borneo); and the stones possessing such virtue were, according to him, found in the bamboo, presumably the siliceous concretions called _Tabashir_. Conti also describes the practice in Java of inserting such amulets under the skin. The Malays of Sumatra, too, have great faith in the efficacy of certain “stones, which they pretend are extracted from reptiles, birds, animals, etc., in preventing them from being wounded.” (See _Mission to Ava_, p. 208; _Cathay_, 94; _Conti_, p. 32; _Proc. As. Soc. Beng._ 1868, p. 116; _Anderson’s Mission to Sumatra_, p. 323.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] These names in parentheses are the Chinese forms; the others, the Japanese modes of reading them. CHAPTER IV. CONCERNING THE FASHION OF THE IDOLS. Now you must know that the Idols of Cathay, and of Manzi, and of this Island, are all of the same class. And in this Island as well as elsewhere, there be some of the Idols that have the head of an ox, some that have the head of a pig, some of a dog, some of a sheep, and some of divers other kinds. And some of them have four heads, whilst some have three, one growing out of either shoulder. There are also some that have four hands, some ten, some a thousand! And they do put more faith in those Idols that have a thousand hands than in any of the others.{1} And when any Christian asks them why they make their Idols in so many different guises, and not all alike, they reply that just so their forefathers were wont to have them made, and just so they will leave them to their children, and these to the after generations. And so they will be handed down for ever. And you must understand that the deeds ascribed to these Idols are such a parcel of devilries as it is best not to tell. So let us have done with the Idols, and speak of other things. But I must tell you one thing still concerning that Island (and ’tis the same with the other Indian Islands), that if the natives take prisoner an enemy who cannot pay a ransom, he who hath the prisoner summons all his friends and relations, and they put the prisoner to death, and then they cook him and eat him, and they say there is no meat in the world so good!—But now we _will_ have done with that Island and speak of something else. You must know the Sea in which lie the Islands of those parts is called the SEA OF CHIN, which is as much as to say “The Sea over against Manzi.” For, in the language of those Isles, when they say _Chin_, ’tis Manzi they mean. And I tell you with regard to that Eastern Sea of Chin, according to what is said by the experienced pilots and mariners of those parts, there be 7459 Islands in the waters frequented by the said mariners; and that is how they know the fact, for their whole life is spent in navigating that sea. And there is not one of those Islands but produces valuable and odorous woods like the lignaloe, aye and better too; and they produce also a great variety of spices. For example in those Islands grows pepper as white as snow, as well as the black in great quantities. In fact the riches of those Islands is something wonderful, whether in gold or precious stones, or in all manner of spicery; but they lie so far off from the main land that it is hard to get to them. And when the ships of Zayton and Kinsay do voyage thither they make vast profits by their venture.{2} It takes them a whole year for the voyage, going in winter and returning in summer. For in that Sea there are but two winds that blow, the one that carries them outward and the other that brings them homeward; and the one of these winds blows all the winter, and the other all the summer. And you must know these regions are so far from India that it takes a long time also for the voyage thence. Though that Sea is called the Sea of Chin, as I have told you, yet it is part of the Ocean Sea all the same. But just as in these parts people talk of the Sea of England and the Sea of Rochelle, so in those countries they speak of the Sea of Chin and the Sea of India, and so on, though they all are but parts of the Ocean.{3} Now let us have done with that region which is very inaccessible and out of the way. Moreover, Messer Marco Polo never was there. And let me tell you the Great Kaan has nothing to do with them, nor do they render him any tribute or service. So let us go back to Zayton and take up the order of our book from that point.{4} NOTE 1.—“Several of the (Chinese) gods have horns on the forehead, or wear animals’ heads; some have three eyes.... Some are represented in the Indian manner with a multiplicity of arms. We saw at Yang-cheu fu a goddess with thirty arms.” (_Deguignes_, I. 364–366.) The reference to any particular form of idolatry here is vague. But in Tibetan Buddhism, with which Marco was familiar, all these extravagances are prominent, though repugnant to the more orthodox Buddhism of the South. When the Dalai Lama came to visit the Altun Khan, to secure the reconversion of the Mongols in 1577, he appeared as a manifest embodiment of the Bodhisatva Avalokiteçvara, with _four hands_, of which two were always folded across the breast! The same Bodhisatva is sometimes represented with eleven heads. Manjushri manifests himself in a golden body with 1000 hands and 1000 _Pátras_ or vessels, in each of which were 1000 figures of Sakya visible, etc. (_Koeppen_, II. 137; _Vassilyev_, 200.) NOTE 2.—Polo seems in this passage to be speaking of the more easterly Islands of the Archipelago, such as the Philippines, the Moluccas, etc., but with vague ideas of their position. NOTE 3.—In this passage alone Polo makes use of the now familiar name of CHINA. “_Chin_,” as he says, “in the language of those Isles means _Manzi_.” In fact, though the form _Chin_ is more correctly Persian, we do get the exact form _China_ from “the language of those Isles,” _i.e._ from the _Malay_. _China_ is also used in Japanese. What he says about the Ocean and the various names of its parts is nearly a version of a passage in the geographical Poem of Dionysius, ending:— Οὕτωϛ Ὠκεανὸς περιδέδρομε λαῖαν ἅπασαν Τοῖος ἐὼν καὶ τοῖα μετ’ ἀνδράσιν οὐνόμαθ’ ἔλκων (42–3). So also Abulfeda: “This is the sea which flows from the Ocean Sea.... This sea takes the names of the countries it washes. Its eastern extremity is called the Sea of Chin ... the part west of this is called the Sea of India ... then comes the Sea of Fárs, the Sea of Berbera, and lastly the Sea of Kolzum” (Red Sea). NOTE 4.—The Ramusian here inserts a short chapter, shown by the awkward way in which it comes in to be a very manifest interpolation, though possibly still an interpolation by the Traveller’s hand:— “Leaving the port of Zayton you sail westward and something south-westward for 1500 miles, passing a gulf called CHEINAN, having a length of two months’ sail towards the north. Along the whole of its south-east side it borders on the province of Manzi, and on the other side with Anin and Coloman, and many other provinces formerly spoken of. Within this Gulf there are innumerable Islands, almost all well-peopled; and in these is found a great quantity of gold-dust, which is collected from the sea where the rivers discharge. There is copper also, and other things; and the people drive a trade with each other in the things that are peculiar to their respective Islands. They have also a traffic with the people of the mainland, selling them gold and copper and other things; and purchasing in turn what they stand in need of. In the greater part of these Islands plenty of corn grows. This gulf is so great, and inhabited by so many people, that it seems like a world in itself.” This passage is translated by Marsden with much forcing, so as to describe the China Sea, embracing the Philippine Islands, etc.; but, as a matter of fact, it seems clearly to indicate the writer’s conception as of a great gulf running up into the continent between Southern China and Tong-king for a length equal to two months’ journey. The name of the gulf, Cheinan, _i.e._ _Heinan_, may either be that of the Island so called, or, as I rather incline to suppose, _’An-nan_, _i.e._ Tong-king. But even by Camoens, writing at Macao in 1559–1560, the Gulf of Hainan is styled an unknown sea (though this perhaps is only appropriate to the prophetic speaker):— “Vês, corre a costa, que Champa se chama, Cuja mata he do pao cheiroso ornada: Vês, Cauchichina está de escura fama, _E de Aināo vê a incognita enseada_” (X. 129). And in Sir Robert Dudley’s _Arcano del Mare_ (Firenze, 1647), we find a great bottle-necked gulf, of some 5½° in length, running up to the north from Tong-king, very much as I have represented the Gulf of Cheinan in the attempt to realise Polo’s Own Geography. (See map in Introductory Essay.) CHAPTER V. OF THE GREAT COUNTRY CALLED CHAMBA. You must know that on leaving the port of Zayton you sail west-south-west for 1500 miles, and then you come to a country called CHAMBA,{1} a very rich region, having a king of its own. The people are Idolaters and pay a yearly tribute to the Great Kaan, which consists of elephants and nothing but elephants. And I will tell you how they came to pay this tribute. It happened in the year of Christ 1278 that the Great Kaan sent a Baron of his called Sagatu with a great force of horse and foot against this King of Chamba, and this Baron opened the war on a great scale against the King and his country. Now the King [whose name was Accambale] was a very aged man, nor had he such a force as the Baron had. And when he saw what havoc the Baron was making with his kingdom he was grieved to the heart. So he bade messengers get ready and despatched them to the Great Kaan. And they said to the Kaan: “Our Lord the King of Chamba salutes you as his liege-lord, and would have you to know that he is stricken in years and long hath held his realm in peace. And now he sends you word by us that he is willing to be your liegeman, and will send you every year a tribute of as many elephants as you please. And he prays you in all gentleness and humility that you would send word to your Baron to desist from harrying his kingdom and to quit his territories. These shall henceforth be at your absolute disposal, and the King shall hold them of you.” When the Great Kaan had heard the King’s ambassage he was moved with pity, and sent word to that Baron of his to quit that kingdom with his army, and to carry his arms to the conquest of some other country; and as soon as this command reached them they obeyed it. Thus it was then that this King became vassal of the Great Kaan, and paid him every year a tribute of 20 of the greatest and finest elephants that were to be found in the country. But now we will leave that matter, and tell you other particulars about the King of Chamba. You must know that in that kingdom no woman is allowed to marry until the King shall have seen her; if the woman pleases him then he takes her to wife; if she does not, he gives her a dowry to get her a husband withal. In the year of Christ 1285, Messer Marco Polo was in that country, and at that time the King had, between sons and daughters, 326 children, of whom at least 150 were men fit to carry arms.{2} There are very great numbers of elephants in this kingdom, and they have lignaloes in great abundance. They have also extensive forests of the wood called _Bonús_, which is jet-black, and of which chessmen and pen-cases are made. But there is nought more to tell, so let us proceed.{3} NOTE 1.—✛The name CHAMPA is of Indian origin, like the adjoining Kamboja and many other names in Indo-China, and was probably taken from that of an ancient Hindu city and state on the Ganges, near modern Bhágalpúr. Hiuen Tsang, in the 7th century, makes mention of the Indo-Chinese state as Mahāchampā (_Pèl. Boudd._, III. 83.) The title of Champa down to the 15th century seems to have been applied by Western Asiatics to a kingdom which embraced the whole coast between Tong-king and Kamboja, including all that is now called Cochin China outside of Tong-king. It was termed by the Chinese _Chen-Ching_. In 1471 the King of Tong-king, Lê Thanh-tong, conquered the country, and the genuine people of Champa were reduced to a small number occupying the mountains of the province of Binh Thuan at the extreme south-east of the Coch. Chinese territory. To this part of the coast the name Champa is often applied in maps. (See _J. A._ sér. II. tom. xi. p. 31, and _J. des Savans_, 1822, p. 71.) The people of Champa in this restricted sense are said to exhibit Malay affinities, and they profess Mahomedanism. [“The Mussulmans of Binh-Thuan call themselves _Bani_ or _Orang Bani_, ‘men mussulmans,’ probably from the Arabic _beni_ ‘the sons,’ to distinguish them from the Chams _Djat_ ‘of race,’ which they name also _Kaphir_ or _Akaphir_, from the Arabic word _kafer_ ‘pagans.’ These names are used in _Binh-Thuan_ to make a distinction, but Banis and Kaphirs alike are all Chams.... In Cambodia all Chams are Mussulmans.” (_E. Aymonier, Les Tchames_, p. 26.) The religion of the pagan Chams of Binh-Thuan is degenerate Brahmanism with three chief gods, Po-Nagar, Po-Romé, and Po-Klong-Garaï. (_Ibid._, p. 35.)—H. C.] The books of their former religion they say (according to Dr. Bastian) that they received from Ceylon, but they were converted to Islamism by no less a person than ’Ali himself. The Tong-king people received their Buddhism from China, and this tradition puts Champa as the extreme flood-mark of that great tide of Buddhist proselytism, which went forth from Ceylon to the Indo-Chinese regions in an early century of our era, and which is generally connected with the name of Buddaghosha. The prominent position of Champa on the route to China made its ports places of call for many ages, and in the earliest record of the Arab navigation to China we find the country noticed under the identical name (allowing for the deficiencies of the Arabic Alphabet) of _Ṣanf_ or _Chanf_. Indeed it is highly probable that the Ζάβα or Ζάβαι of Ptolemy’s itinerary of the sea-route to the _Sinae_ represents this same name. [“It is true,” Sir Henry Yule wrote since (1882), “that Champa, as known in later days, lay to the east of the Mekong delta, whilst Zabai of the Greeks lay to the west of that and of the μέγα ακροτήριον—the Great Cape, or C. Cambodia of our maps. Crawford (_Desc. Ind. Arch._ p. 80) seems to say that the Malays include under the name _Champa_ the whole of what we call Kamboja. This may possibly be a slip. But it is certain, as we shall see presently, that the Arab _Ṣanf_—which is unquestionably Champa—also lay west of the Cape, _i.e._ within the Gulf of Siam. The fact is that the Indo-Chinese kingdoms have gone through unceasing and enormous vicissitudes, and in early days Champa must have been extensive and powerful, for in the travels of Hiuen Tsang (about A.D. 629) it is called _Mahâ_-Champa. And my late friend Lieutenant Garnier, who gave great attention to these questions, has deduced from such data as exist in Chinese Annals and elsewhere, that the ancient kingdom which the Chinese describe under the name of _Fu-nan_, as extending over the whole peninsula east of the Gulf of Siam, was a kingdom of the _Tsiam_ or Champa race. The locality of the ancient port of Zabai or Champa is probably to be sought on the west coast of Kamboja, near the Campot, or the Kang-kao of our maps. On this coast also was the _Ḳomâr_ and _Ḳamârah_ of Ibn Batuta and other Arab writers, the great source of aloes-wood, the country then of the _Khmer_ or Kambojan People.” (_Notes on the Oldest Records of the Sea-Route to China from Western Asia, Proc. R. G. S._ 1882, pp. 656–657.) M. Barth says that this identification would agree well with the testimony of his inscription XVIII. B., which comes from Angkor and for which _Campā_ is a part of the _Dakshiṇāpatha_, of the southern country. But the capital of this rival State of Kamboja would thus be very near the Trêang province where inscriptions have been found with the names of _Bhavavarman_ and of Īçānavarman. It is true that in 627, the King of Kamboja, according to the Chinese Annals (_Nouv. Mél. As._ I. p. 84), had subjugated the kingdom of Fu-nan identified by Yule and Garnier with _Campā_. Abel Rémusat (_Nouv. Mél. As._ I. pp. 75 and 77) identifies it with Tong-king and Stan. Julien (_J. As._ 4ᵉ Sér. X. p. 97) with Siam. (_Inscrip. Sanscrites du Cambodge_, 1885, pp. 69–70, note.) Sir Henry Yule writes (_l.c._ p. 657): “We have said that the Arab _Ṣanf_, as well as the Greek _Zabai_, lay west of Cape Cambodia. This is proved by the statement that the Arabs on their voyage to China made a ten days’ run from _Ṣanf_ to Pulo Condor.” But Abulfeda (transl. by _Guyard_, II. ii. p. 127) distinctly says that the Komār Peninsula (Khmer) is situated _west_ of the Ṣanf Peninsula; between Ṣanf and Komār there is not a day’s journey by sea. We have, however, another difficulty to overcome. I agree with Sir Henry Yule and Marsden that in ch. vii. _infra_, p. 276, the text must be read, “When you leave _Chamba_,” instead of “When you leave _Java_.” Coming from Zayton and sailing 1500 miles, Polo arrives at Chamba; from Chamba, sailing 700 miles he arrives at the islands of Sondur and Condur, identified by Yule with Sundar Fúlát (Pulo Condore); from Sundar Fúlát, after 500 miles more, he finds the country called Locac; then he goes to Pentam (Bintang, 500 miles), Malaiur, and Java the Less (Sumatra). Ibn Khordâdhbeh’s itinerary agrees pretty well with Marco Polo’s, as Professor De Goeje remarks to me: “Starting from Mâit (Bintang), and leaving on the left Tiyuma (Timoan), in five days’ journey, one goes to Kimèr (Kmer, Cambodia), and after three days more, following the coast, arrives to Ṣanf; then to Lukyn, the first point of call in China, 100 parasangs by land or by sea; from Lukyn it takes four days by sea and twenty by land to go to Kanfu.” [Canton, see note, _supra_ p. 199.] (See _De Goeje’s Ibn Khordâdhbeh_, p. 48 _et seq._) But we come now to the difficulty. Professor De Goeje writes to me: “It is strange that in the _Relation des Voyages_ of Reinaud, p. 20 of the text, reproduced by Ibn al Fakîh, p. 12 _seq._, Sundar Fúlát (Pulo Condore) is placed between Ṣanf and the China Sea (_Sandjy_); it takes ten days to go from Ṣanf to Sundar Fúlát, and then a month (seven days of which between mountains called the Gates of China). In the _Livre des Merveilles de l’Inde_ (pp. 85, 86) we read: ‘When arrived between Ṣanf and the China coast, in the neighbourhood of Sundar Fúlát, an island situated at the entrance of the Sea of Sandjy, which is the Sea of China....’ It would appear from these two passages that Ṣanf is to be looked for in the Malay Peninsula. This Ṣanf is different from the Ṣanf of Ibn Khordâdhbeh and of Abulfeda.” (_Guyard’s transl._ II. ii. 127.) It does not strike me from these passages that Ṣanf must be looked for in the Malay Peninsula. Indeed Professor G. Schlegel, in a paper published in the _T’oung Pao_, vol. x., seems to prove that Shay-po (Djava), represented by Chinese characters, which are the transcription of the Sanskrit name of the China Rose (_Hibiscus rosa sinensis_), Djavâ or Djapâ, is not the great island of Java, but, according to Chinese texts, a state of the Malay Peninsula; but he does not seem to me to prove that Shay-po is Champa, as he believes he has done. However, Professor De Goeje adds in his letter, and I quite agree with the celebrated Arabic scholar of Leyden, that he does not very much like the theory of two Ṣanf, and that he is inclined to believe that the sea captain of the _Marvels of India_ placed Sundar Fúlát a little too much to the north, and that the narrative of the _Relation des Voyages_ is inexact. To conclude: the history of the relations between Annam (Tong-king) and her southern neighbour, the kingdom of Champa, the itineraries of Marco Polo and Ibn Khordâdhbeh as well as the position given to Ṣanf by Abulfeda, justify me, I think, in placing Champa in that part of the central and southern Indo-Chinese coast which the French to-day call Annam (Cochinchine and Basse-Cochinchine), the Binh-Thuan province showing more particularly what remains of the ancient kingdom. Since I wrote the above, I have received No. 1 of vol. ii. of the _Bul. de l’Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient_, which contains a note on _Canf et Campā_, by M. A. Barth. The reasons given in a note addressed to him by Professor De Goeje and the work of Ibn Khordâdhbeh have led M. A. Barth to my own conclusion, viz. that the coast of Champa was situated where inscriptions have been found on the Annamite coast.—H. C.] The Sagatu of Marco appears in the Chinese history as _Sotu_, the military governor of the Canton districts, which he had been active in reducing. In 1278 Sotu sent an envoy to Chen-ching to claim the king’s submission, which was rendered, and for some years he sent his tribute to Kúblái. But when the Kaan proceeded to interfere in the internal affairs of the kingdom by sending a Resident and Chinese officials, the king’s son (1282) resolutely opposed these proceedings, and threw the Chinese officials into prison. The Kaan, in great wrath at this insult (coming also so soon after his discomfiture in Japan), ordered Sotu and others to Chen-ching to take vengeance. The prince in the following year made a pretence of submission, and the army (if indeed it had been sent) seems to have been withdrawn. The prince, however, renewed his attack on the Chinese establishments, and put 100 of their officials to death. Sotu then despatched a new force, but it was quite unsuccessful, and had to retire. In 1284 the king sent an embassy, including his grandson, to beg for pardon and reconciliation. Kúblái, however, refused to receive them, and ordered his son Tughan to advance through Tong-king, an enterprise which led to a still more disastrous war with that country, in which the Mongols had much the worst of it. We are not told more. Here we have the difficulties usual with Polo’s historical anecdotes. Certain names and circumstances are distinctly recognisable in the Chinese Annals; others are difficult to reconcile with these. The embassy of 1284 seems the most likely to be the one spoken of by Polo, though the Chinese history does not give it the favourable result which he ascribes to it. The date in the text we see to be wrong, and as usual it varies in different MSS. I suspect the original date was MCCLXXXIII. One of the Chinese notices gives one of the king’s names as _Sinhopala_, and no doubt this is Ramusio’s _Accambale_ (Açambale); an indication at once of the authentic character of that interpolation, and of the identity of Champa and Chen-ching. [We learn from an inscription that in 1265 the King of Champa was Jaya-Sinhavarman II., who was named Indravarman in 1277, and whom the Chinese called _Che li Tseya Sinho phala Maha thiwa_ (Çri Jaya Sinha varmma maha deva). He was the king at the time of Polo’s voyage. (_A. Bergaigne, Ancien royaume de Campā_, pp. 39–40; _E. Aymonier, les Tchames et leurs religions_, p. 14.)—H. C.] There are notices of the events in De Mailla (IX. 420–422) and Gaubil (194), but Pauthier’s extracts which we have made use of are much fuller. Elephants have generally formed a chief part of the presents or tribute sent periodically by the various Indo-Chinese states to the Court of China. [In a Chinese work published in the 14th century, by an Annamite, under the title of _Ngan-nan chi lio_, and translated into French by M. Sainson (1896), we read (p. 397): “Elephants are found only in Lin-y; this is the country which became Champa. It is the habit to have burdens carried by elephants; this country is to-day the Pu-chêng province.” M. Sainson adds in a note that Pu-chêng, in Annamite Bó chańh quân, is to-day Quang-binh, and that, in this country, was placed the first capital (Dong-hoi) of the future kingdom of Champa thrown later down to the south.—H. C.] [The Chams, according to their tradition, had three capitals: the most ancient, _Shri-Banœuy_, probably the actual Quang-Binh province; _Bal-Hangov_, near Hué; and _Bal-Angoué_, in the Binh-Dinh province. In the 4th century, the kingdom of _Lin-y_ or _Lâm-âp_ is mentioned in the Chinese Annals.—H. C.] NOTE 2.—The date of Marco’s visit to Champa varies in the MSS.: Pauthier has 1280, as has also Ramusio; the G. T. has 1285; the Geographic Latin 1288. I incline to adopt the last. For we know that about 1290, Mark returned to Court from a mission to the Indian Seas, which might have included this visit to Champa. The large family of the king was one of the stock marvels. Odoric says: “ZAMPA is a very fine country, having great store of victuals and all good things. The king of the country, it was said when I was there [_circa_ 1323], had, what with sons and with daughters, a good two hundred children; for he hath many wives and other women whom he keepeth. This king hath also 14,000 tame elephants.... And other folk keep elephants there just as commonly as we keep oxen here” (pp. 95–96). The latter point illustrates what Polo says of elephants, and is scarcely an exaggeration in regard to all the southern Indo-Chinese States. (See note to Odoric u.s.) NOTE 3.—Champa Proper and the adjoining territories have been from time immemorial the chief seat of the production of lign-aloes or eagle-wood. Both names are misleading, for the thing has nought to do either with aloes or eagles; though good Bishop Pallegoix derives the latter name from the wood being speckled like an eagle’s plumage. It is in fact through _Aquila_, _Agila_, from _Aguru_, one of the Sanskrit names of the article, whilst that is possibly from the Malay _Kayu_ (wood)-_gahru_, though the course of the etymology is more likely to be the other way; and Αλόη is perhaps a corruption of the term which the Arabs apply to it, viz. _Al-’Ud_, “The Wood.” [It is probable that the first Portuguese who had to do with eagle-wood called it by its Arabic name, _aghāluḥy_, or malayālam, _agila_; whence _páo de’ aguila_ “aguila wood.” It was translated into Latin as _lignum aquilae_, and after into modern languages, as _bois d’aigle_, _eagle-wood_, _adlerholz_, etc. (_A. Cabaton, les Chams_, p. 50.) Mr. Groeneveldt (_Notes_, pp. 141–142) writes: “_Lignum aloes_ is the wood of the _Aquilaria agallocha_, and is chiefly known as _sinking incense_. The _Pen-ts’au Kang-mu_ describes it as follows: ‘_Sinking incense_, also called _honey incense_. It comes from the heart and the knots of a tree and sinks in water, from which peculiarity the name _sinking incense_ is derived.... In the Description of Annam we find it called _honey incense_, because it smells like honey.’ The same work, as well as the _Nan-fang Ts’au-mu Chuang_, further informs us that this incense was obtained in all countries south of China, by felling the old trees and leaving them to decay, when, after some time, only the heart, the knots, and some other hard parts remained. The product was known under different names, according to its quality or shape, and in addition to the names given above, we find _fowl bones_, _horse-hoofs_, and _green cinnamon_; these latter names, however, are seldom used.”—H. C.] The fine eagle-wood of Champa is the result of disease in a leguminous tree, _Aloexylon Agallochum_; whilst an inferior kind, though of the same aromatic properties, is derived from a tree of an entirely different order, _Aquilaria Agallocha_, and is found as far north as Silhet. The _Bonus_ of the G. T. here is another example of Marco’s use, probably unconscious, of an Oriental word. It is Persian _Abnús_, Ebony, which has passed almost unaltered into the Spanish _Abenuz_. We find _Ibenus_ also in a French inventory (_Douet d’Arcq_, p. 134), but the _Bonús_ seems to indicate that the word as used by the Traveller was strange to Rusticiano. The word which he uses for pen-cases too, _Calamanz_, is more suggestive of the Persian _Ḳalamdán_ than of the Italian _Calamajo_. “Ebony is very common in this country (Champa), but the wood which is the most precious, and which is sufficiently abundant, is called ‘Eagle-wood,’ of which the first quality sells for its weight in gold; the native name is _Kínam_.” (_Bishop Louis_ in J. A. S. B. VI. 742; _Dr. Birdwood_, in the _Bible Educator_, I. 243; _Crawford’s Dict._) CHAPTER VI. CONCERNING THE GREAT ISLAND OF JAVA. When you sail from Chamba, 1500 miles in a course between south and south-east, you come to a great Island called Java. And the experienced mariners of those Islands who know the matter well, say that it is the greatest Island in the world, and has a compass of more than 3000 miles. It is subject to a great King and tributary to no one else in the world. The people are Idolaters. The Island is of surpassing wealth, producing black pepper, nutmegs, spikenard, galingale, cubebs, cloves, and all other kinds of spices. This Island is also frequented by a vast amount of shipping, and by merchants who buy and sell costly goods from which they reap great profit. Indeed the treasure of this Island is so great as to be past telling. And I can assure you the Great Kaan never could get possession of this Island, on account of its great distance, and the great expense of an expedition thither. The merchants of Zayton and Manzi draw annually great returns from this country.{1} [Illustration: View in the Interior of Java. “=Une grandissime Ysle qe est apellé Java.... Ceste Ysle est de mout grant richesse.=”] NOTE 1.—Here Marco speaks of that Pearl of Islands, Java. The chapter is a digression from the course of his voyage towards India, but possibly he may have touched at the island on his previous expedition, alluded to in note 2, ch. v. Not more, for the account is vague, and where particulars are given not accurate. Java does not _produce_ nutmegs or cloves, though doubtless it was a great mart for these and all the products of the Archipelago. And if by _treasure_ he means gold, as indeed Ramusio reads, no gold is found in Java. Barbosa, however, has the same story of the great amount of gold drawn from Java; and De Barros says that Sunda, _i.e._ Western Java, which the Portuguese regarded as a distinct island, produced inferior gold of 7 carats, but that pepper was the staple, of which the annual supply was more than 30,000 cwt. (_Ram._ I. 318–319; _De Barros_, Dec. IV. liv. i. cap. 12.) [Illustration: Ship of the Middle Ages in the Java Seas. (From Bas-relief at Boro Bodor.) “=En ceste Ysle vienent grant quantité de nés, e de mercanz qe hi acatent de maintes mercandies et hi font grant gaagne.=”] The circuit ascribed to Java in Pauthier’s Text is 5000 miles. Even the 3000 which we take from the Geog. Text is about double the truth; but it is exactly the same that Odoric and Conti assign. No doubt it was a tradition among the Arab seamen. They never visited the south coast, and probably had extravagant ideas of its extension in that direction, as the Portuguese had for long. Even at the end of the 16th century Linschoten says: “Its breadth is as yet unknown; some conceiving it to be a part of the Terra Australis extending from opposite the Cape of Good Hope. _However it is commonly held to be an island_” (ch. xx.). And in the old map republished in the Lisbon De Barros of 1777, the south side of Java is marked “Parte incognita de Java,” and is without a single name, whilst a narrow strait runs right across the island (the supposed division of Sunda from Java Proper). The history of Java previous to the rise of the Empire of Majapahit, in the age immediately following our Traveller’s voyage, is very obscure. But there is some evidence of the existence of a powerful dynasty in the island about this time; and in an inscription of ascertained date (A.D. 1294) the King Uttungadeva claims to have subjected _five kings_, and to be sovereign of the whole Island of Java (_Jawa-dvipa_; see Lassen, IV. 482). It is true that, as our Traveller says, Kúblái had not yet attempted the subjugation of Java, but he did make the attempt almost immediately after the departure of the Venetians. It was the result of one of his unlucky embassies to claim the homage of distant states, and turned out as badly as the attempts against Champa and Japan. His ambassador, a Chinese called Meng-K’i, was sent back with his face branded like a thief’s. A great armament was assembled in the ports of Fo-kien to avenge this insult; it started about January, 1293, but did not effect a landing till autumn. After some temporary success the force was constrained to re-embark with a loss of 3000 men. The death of Kúblái prevented any renewal of the attempt; and it is mentioned that his successor gave orders for the re-opening of the Indian trade which the Java war had interrupted. (See _Gaubil_, pp. 217 _seqq._, 224.) To this failure Odoric, who visited Java about 1323, alludes: “Now the Great Kaan of Cathay many a time engaged in war with this king; but the king always vanquished and got the better of him.” Odoric speaks in high terms of the richness and population of Java, calling it “the second best of all Islands that exist,” and describing a gorgeous palace in terms similar to those in which Polo speaks of the Palace of Chipangu. (_Cathay_, p. 87 _seqq._) [We read in the _Yuen-shi_ (Bk. 210), translated by Mr. Groeneveldt, that “Java is situated beyond the sea and further away than Champa; when one embarks at Ts’wan-chau and goes southward, he first comes to Champa and afterwards to this country.” It appears that when his envoy Mêng-K’i had been branded on the face, Kúblái, in 1292, appointed Shih-pi, a native of Po-yeh, district Li-chau, Pao-ting fu, Chih-li province, commander of the expedition to Java, whilst Ike-Mese, a Uighúr, and Kau-Hsing, a man from Ts’ai-chau (Ho-nan), were appointed to assist him. Mr. Groeneveldt has translated the accounts of these three officers. In the _Ming-shi_ (Bk. 324) we read: “Java is situated at the south-west of Champa. In the time of the Emperor Kúblái of the Yuen Dynasty, Mêng-K’i was sent there as an envoy and had his face cut, on which Kúblái sent a large army which subdued the country and then came back.” (_L.c._ p. 34.) The prince guilty of this insult was the King of Tumapel “in the eastern part of the island Java, whose country was called Java par excellence by the Chinese, because it was in this part of the island they chiefly traded.” (_L.c._ p. 32.)—H. C.] The curious figure of a vessel which we give here is taken from the vast series of mediæval sculptures which adorns the great Buddhist pyramid in the centre of Java, known as Boro Bodor, one of the most remarkable architectural monuments in the world, but the history of which is all in darkness. The ship, with its outrigger and apparently canvas sails, is not Chinese, but it undoubtedly pictures vessels which frequented the ports of Java in the early part of the 14th century,[1] possibly one of those from Ceylon or Southern India. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] 1344 is the date to which a Javanese traditional verse ascribes the edifice. (_Crawford’s Desc. Dictionary_.) CHAPTER VII. WHEREIN THE ISLES OF SONDUR AND CONDUR ARE SPOKEN OF; AND THE KINGDOM OF LOCAC. When you leave Chamba{1} and sail for 700 miles on a course between south and south-west, you arrive at two Islands, a greater and a less. The one is called SONDUR and the other CONDUR.{2} As there is nothing about them worth mentioning, let us go on five hundred miles beyond Sondur, and then we find another country which is called LOCAC. It is a good country and a rich; [it is on the mainland]; and it has a king of its own. The people are Idolaters and have a peculiar language, and pay tribute to nobody, for their country is so situated that no one can enter it to do them ill. Indeed if it were possible to get at it, the Great Kaan would soon bring them under subjection to him. In this country the brazil which we make use of grows in great plenty; and they also have gold in incredible quantity. They have elephants likewise, and much game. In this kingdom too are gathered all the porcelain shells which are used for small change in all those regions, as I have told you before. There is nothing else to mention except that this is a very wild region, visited by few people; nor does the king desire that any strangers should frequent the country, and so find out about his treasure and other resources.{3} We will now proceed, and tell you of something else. NOTE 1.—All the MSS. and texts I believe without exception read “_when you leave_ Java,” etc. But, as Marsden has indicated, the point of departure is really _Champa_, the introduction of Java being a digression; and the retention of the latter name here would throw us irretrievably into the Southern Ocean. Certain old geographers, we may observe, did follow that indication, and the results were curious enough, as we shall notice in next note but one. Marsden’s observations are so just that I have followed Pauthier in substituting Champa for Java in the text. NOTE 2.—There is no reason to doubt that these islands are the group now known as that of PULO CONDORE, in old times an important landmark, and occasional point of call, on the route to China. The group is termed _Sundar Fúlát_ (_Fúlát_ representing the Malay _Pulo_ or Island, in the plural) in the Arab _Relations_ of the 9th century, the last point of departure on the voyage to China, from which it was a month distant. This old record gives us the name _Sondor_; in modern times we have it as _Kondór_; Polo combines both names. [“These may also be the ‘Satyrs’ Islands’ of Ptolemy, or they may be his _Sindai_; for he has a _Sinda_ city on the coast close to this position, though his Sindai islands are dropt far away. But it would not be difficult to show that Ptolemy’s islands have been located almost at random, or as from a pepper castor.” (_Yule_, _Oldest Records_, p. 657.)] The group consists of a larger island about 12 miles long, two of 2 or 3 miles, and some half-dozen others of insignificant dimensions. The large one is now specially called Pulo Condore. It has a fair harbour, fresh water, and wood in abundance. Dampier visited the group and recommended its occupation. The E. I. Company did establish a post there in 1702, but it came to a speedy end in the massacre of the Europeans by their Macassar garrison. About the year 1720 some attempt to found a settlement there was also made by the French, who gave the island the name of _Isle d’Orléans_. The celebrated Père Gaubil spent eight months on the island and wrote an interesting letter about it (February, 1722; see also _Lettres Edifiantes_, Rec. xvi.). When the group was visited by Mr. John Crawford on his mission to Cochin China the inhabitants numbered about 800, of Cochin Chinese descent. The group is now held by the French under Saigon. The chief island is known to the Chinese as the mountain of Kunlun. There is another cluster of rocks in the same sea, called the Seven Cheu, and respecting these two groups Chinese sailors have a kind of _Incidit-in-Scyllan_ saw:— “_Shang p’a Tsi-chéu, hia-pa Kun-lun, Chen mi t’uo shih, jin chuen mo tsun._”[1] Meaning:— “With Kunlun to starboard, and larboard the Cheu, Keep conning your compass, whatever you do, Or to Davy Jones’ Locker go vessel and crew.” (_Ritter_, IV. 1017; _Reinaud_, I. 18; _A. Hamilton_, II. 402; _Mém. conc. les Chinois_, XIV. 53.) NOTE 3.—Pauthier reads the name of the kingdom _Soucat_, but I adhere to the readings of the G. T., _Lochac_ and _Locac_, which are supported by Ramusio. Pauthier’s C and the Bern MS. have _le chac_ and _le that_, which indicate the same reading. Distance and other particulars point, as Hugh Murray discerns, to the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, or (as I conceive) to the territory now called Siam, including the said coast, as subject or tributary from time immemorial. The kingdom of Siam is known to the Chinese by the name of _Sien-Lo_. The Supplement to Ma Twan-lin’s Encyclopædia describes Sien-Lo as on the sea-board to the extreme south of Chen-ching. “It originally consisted of two kingdoms, _Sien_ and _Lo-hoh_. The Sien people are the remains of a tribe which in the year (A.D. 1341) began to come down upon the Lo-hoh, and united with the latter into one nation.... The land of the Lo-hoh consists of extended plains, but not much agriculture is done.”[2] In this _Lo_ or LO-HOH, which apparently formed the lower part of what is now Siam, previous to the middle of the 14th century, I believe that we have our Traveller’s Locac. The latter half of the name may be either the second syllable of Lo-Hoh, for Polo’s _c_ often represents _h_; or it may be the Chinese _Kwŏ_ or _Kwé_, “kingdom,” in the Canton and Fo-kien pronunciation (_i.e._ the pronunciation of Polo’s mariners) _kok_; _Lo-kok_, “the kingdom of Lo.” _Sien_-LO-KOK is the exact form of the Chinese name of Siam which is used by Bastian. What was this kingdom of Lo which occupied the northern shores of the Gulf of Siam? Chinese scholars generally say that _Sien-Lo_ means Siam and _Laos_; but this I cannot accept, if Laos is to bear its ordinary geographical sense, _i.e._ of a country bordering Siam on the _north-east and north_. Still there seems a probability that the usual interpretation may be correct, when properly explained. [Regarding the identification of Locac with Siam, Mr. G. Phillips writes (_Jour. China B. R. A. S._, XXI., 1886, p. 34, note): “I can only fully endorse what Col. Yule says upon this subject, and add a few extracts of my own taken from the article on Siam given in the _Wu-pé-ché_. It would appear that previously to 1341 a country called Lohoh (in Amoy pronunciation Lohok) existed, as Yule says, in what is now called Lower Siam, and at that date became incorporated with Sien. In the 4th year of Hung-wu, 1372, it sent tribute to China, under the name of Sien Lohok. The country was first called Sien Lo in the first year of Yung Lo, 1403. In the T’ang Dynasty it appears to have been known as _Lo-yueh_, pronounced _Lo-gueh_ at that period. This _Lo-yueh_ would seem to have been situated on the Eastern side of Malay Peninsula, and to have extended to the entrance to the Straits of Singapore, in what is now known as Johore.”—H. C.] In 1864, Dr. Bastian communicated to the Asiatic Society of Bengal the translation of a long and interesting inscription, brought [in 1834] from Sukkothai to Bangkok by the late King of Siam [Mongkut, then crown prince], and dated in _a_ year 1214, which in the era of Salivahana (as it is almost certainly, see _Garnier_, cited below) will be A.D. 1292–1293, almost exactly coincident with Polo’s voyage. The author of this inscription was a Prince of _Thai_ (or Siamese) race, styled Phra Râma Kamhêng (“The Valiant”) [son of Srī Indratiya], who reigned in Sukkothai, whilst his dominions extended from Vieng-chan on the Mekong River (lat. 18°), to Pechabur, and Srī-Thammarat (_i.e._ Ligór, in lat. 8° 18′), on the coast of the Gulf of Siam. [This inscription gives three dates—1205, 1209, and 1214 śaka = A.D. 1283, 1287 and 1292. One passage says: “Formerly the Thaïs had no writing; it is in 1205 śaka, year of the goat = A.D. 1283, that King Râma Kamhêng sent for a teacher who invented the Thaï writing. It is to him that we are indebted for it to-day.” (Cf. _Fournereau, Siam ancien_, p. 225; _Schmitt, Exc. et Recon._, 1885; _Aymonier, Cambodge_, II. p. 72.)—H. C.] The conquests of this prince are stated to have extended eastward to the “Royal Lake,” apparently the Great Lake of Kamboja; and we may conclude with certainty that he was the leader of the Siamese, who had invaded Kamboja shortly before it was visited (in 1296) by that envoy of Kúblái’s successor, whose valuable account of the country has been translated by Rémusat.[3] Now this prince Râma Kamhêng of Sukkothai was probably (as Lieutenant Garnier supposes) of the _Thai-nyai_, Great Thai, or Laotian branch of the race. Hence the application of the name Lo-kok to his kingdom can be accounted for. It was another branch of the Thai, known as _Thai-noi_, or Little Thai, which in 1351, under another Phra Rama, founded Ayuthia and the Siamese monarchy, which still exists. The explanation now given seems more satisfactory than the suggestions formerly made of the connection of the name _Locac_, either with Lophāburi (or _Lavó, Louvo_), a very ancient capital near Ayuthia, or with _Lawék_, _i.e._ Kamboja. Kamboja had at an earlier date possessed the lower valley of the Menam, but, we see, did so no longer.[4] The name _Lawek_ or Lovek is applied by writers of the 16th and 17th centuries to the capital of what is still Kamboja, the ruins of which exist near Udong. _Laweik_ is mentioned along with the other Siamese or Laotian countries of Yuthia, Tennasserim, Sukkothai, Pichalok, Lagong, Lanchang (or Luang Prabang), Zimmé (or Kiang-mai), and Kiang-Tung, in the vast list of states claimed by the Burmese Chronicle as tributary to Pagán before its fall. We find in the _Aín-i-Akbari_ a kind of aloes-wood called _Lawáki_, no doubt because it came from this region. The G. T. indeed makes the course from Sondur to Locac _sceloc_ or S.E.; but Pauthier’s text seems purposely to correct this, calling it, “_v. c. milles_ oultre _Sandur_.” This would bring us to the Peninsula somewhere about what is now the Siamese province of Ligor,[5] and this is the only position accurately consistent with the next indication of the route, viz. a run of 500 miles _south_ to the Straits of Singapore. Let us keep in mind also Ramusio’s specific statement that Locac was on _terra firma_. As regards the products named: (1) gold is mined in the northern part of the Peninsula and is a staple export of Kalantan, Tringano, and Pahang, further down. Barbosa says gold was so abundant in Malacca that it was reckoned by _Bahars_ of 4 cwt. Though Mr. Logan has estimated the present produce of the whole Peninsula at only 20,000 ounces, Hamilton, at the beginning of last century, says Pahang alone in some years exported above 8 cwt. (2) Brazil-wood, now generally known by the Malay term _Sappan_, is abundant on the coast. Ritter speaks of three small towns on it as entirely surrounded by trees of this kind. And higher up, in the latitude of Tavoy, the forests of sappan-wood find a prominent place in some maps of Siam. In mediæval intercourse between the courts of Siam and China we find Brazil-wood to form the bulk of the Siamese present. [“Ma Huan fully bears out Polo’s statement in this matter, for he says: This Brazil (of which Marco speaks) is as plentiful as firewood. On Chêng-ho’s chart Brazil and other fragrant woods are marked as products of Siam. Polo’s statement of the use of porcelain shells as small change is also corroborated by Ma Huan.” (_G. Phillips, Jour. China B. R. A. S._, XXI., 1886, p. 37.)—H. C.] (3) Elephants are abundant. (4) Cowries, according to Marsden and Crawford, are found in those seas largely only on the Sulu Islands; but Bishop Pallegoix says distinctly that they are found _in abundance_ on the sand-banks of the Gulf of Siam. And I see Dr. Fryer, in 1673, says that cowries were brought to Surat “from Siam and the Philippine Islands.” For some centuries after this time Siam was generally known to traders by the Persian name of _Shahr-i-nao_, or New City. This seems to be the name generally applied to it in the _Shijarat Malayu_ (or Malay Chronicle), and it is used also by Abdurrazzák. It appears among the early navigators of the 16th century, as Da Gama, Varthema, Giovanni d’Empoli and Mendez Pinto, in the shape of _Sornau, Xarnau_. Whether this name was applied to the new city of Ayuthia, or was a translation of that of the older _Lophāburi_ (which appears to be the Sansk. or Pali _Nava pura_ = New-City) I do not know. [Reinaud (_Int. Abulfeda_, p. CDXVI.) writes that, according to the Christian monk of Nadjran, who crossed the Malayan Seas, about the year 980, at this time, the King of Lukyn had just invaded the kingdom of Ṣanf and taken possession of it. According to Ibn Khordâdhbeh (_De Goeje_, p. 49) Lukyn is the first port of China, 100 parasangs distant from Ṣanf by land or sea; Chinese stone, Chinese silk, porcelain of excellent quality, and rice are to be found at Lukyn.—H. C.] (_Bastian_, I. 357, III. 433, and in _J. A. S. B._ XXXIV. Pt. I. p. 27 _seqq._; _Ramus._ I. 318; _Amyot_, XIV. 266, 269; _Pallegoix_, I. 196; _Bowring_, I. 41, 72; _Phayre_ in _J. A. S. B._ XXXVII. Pt. I. p. 102; _Aín Akb._ 80; _Mouhot_, I. 70; _Roe and Fryer_, reprint, 1873, p. 271.) Some geographers of the 16th century, following the old editions which carried the travellers south-east or south-west of Java to the land of _Boeach_ (for Locac), introduced in their maps a continent in that situation. (See _e.g._ the map of the world by P. Plancius in Linschoten.) And this has sometimes been adduced to prove an early knowledge of Australia. Mr. Major has treated this question ably in his interesting essay on the early notices of Australia. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] [From the _Hsing-ch’a Shêng-lan_, by Fei Hsin.] [2] The extract of which this is the substance I owe to the kindness of Professor J. Summers, formerly of King’s College. [3] I am happy to express my obligation to the remarks of my lamented friend Lieutenant Garnier, for light on this subject, which has led to an entire reform in the present note. (See his excellent Historical Essay, forming ch. v. of the great “_Voyage d’Exploration en Indo-Chine_,” pp. 136–137). [4] The _Ḳakula_ of Ibn Batuta was probably on the coast of Locac. The _Ḳamárah Ḳomar_ of the same traveller and other Arab writers, I have elsewhere suggested to be _Khmer_, or Kamboja Proper. (See _I. B._ IV. 240; _Cathay_, 469, 519.) Ḳakula and Ḳamarah were both in “_Mul-Java_”; and the king of this undetermined country, whom Wassáf states to have submitted to Kúblái in 1291, was called _Sri Rama_. It is possible that this was Phra Rama of Sukkothai. (See _Cathay_, 519; _Elliot_, III. 27.) [5] Mr. G Phillips supposes the name Locac to be Ligor, or rather Lakhon, as the Siamese call it. But it seems to me pretty clear from what has been said that Lo-kok, though including Ligor, is a different name from Lakhon. The latter is a corruption of the Sanskrit, _Nagara_, “city.” CHAPTER VIII. OF THE ISLAND CALLED PENTAM, AND THE CITY MALAIUR. When you leave Locac and sail for 500 miles towards the south, you come to an island called PENTAM, a very wild place. All the wood that grows thereon consists of odoriferous trees.{1} There is no more to say about it; so let us sail about sixty miles further between those two Islands. Throughout this distance there is but four paces’ depth of water, so that great ships in passing this channel have to lift their rudders, for they draw nearly as much water as that.{2} And when you have gone these 60 miles, and again about 30 more, you come to an Island which forms a Kingdom, and is called MALAIUR. The people have a King of their own, and a peculiar language. The city is a fine and noble one, and there is great trade carried on there. All kinds of spicery are to be found there, and all other necessaries of life.{3} NOTE 1.—_Pentam_, or as in Ram. _Pentan_, is no doubt the Bintang of our maps, more properly BENTĂN, a considerable Island at the eastern extremity of the Straits of Malacca. It appears in the list, published by Dulaurier from a Javanese Inscription, of the kingdoms conquered in the 15th century by the sovereigns reigning at Majapahit in Java. (_J. A._ sér. IV. tom. xiii. 532.) Bintang was for a long time after the Portuguese conquest of Malacca the chief residence of the Malay Sultans who had been expelled by that conquest, and it still nominally belongs to the Sultan of Johore, the descendant of those princes, though in fact ruled by the Dutch, whose port of Rhio stands on a small island close to its western shore. It is the _Bintão_ of the Portuguese whereof Camoens speaks as the persistent enemy of Malacca (X. 57). [Cf. _Professor Schlegel’s Geog. Notes_, VI. _Ma-it_; regarding the odoriferous trees, Professor Schlegel remarks (p. 20) that they were probably santal trees.—H. C.] NOTE 2.—There is a good deal of confusion in the text of this chapter. Here we have a passage spoken of between “those two Islands,” when only one island seems to have been mentioned. But I imagine the other “island” in the traveller’s mind to be the continuation of the same Locac, _i.e._ the Malay Peninsula (included by him under that name), which he has coasted for 500 miles. This is confirmed by Ramusio, and the old Latin editions (as Müller’s): “between the kingdom of Locac and the Island of Pentan.” The passage in question is the Strait of Singapore, or as the old navigators called it, the Straits of Gobernador, having the mainland of the Peninsula and the Island of Singapore, on the one side, and the Islands of Bintang and Batang on the other. The length of the strait is roughly 60 geographical miles, or a little more; and I see in a route given in the _Lettres Edifiantes_ (II. p. 118) that the length of navigation is so stated: “Le détroit de Gobernador a vingt lieues de long, et est fort difficile quand on n’y a jamais passé.” The Venetian _passo_ was 5 feet. Marco here alludes to the well-known practice with the Chinese junks of raising the rudder, for which they have a special arrangement, which is indicated in the cut at p. 248. NOTE 3.—There is a difficulty here about the indications, carrying us, as they do, first 60 miles through the Strait, and then 30 miles further to the Island Kingdom and city of Malaiur. There is also a singular variation in the readings as to this city and island. The G. T. has “_Une isle qe est roiame, et s’apelle_ Malanir e l’isle Pentam.” The Crusca has the same, only reading _Malavir_. Pauthier: “_Une isle qui est royaume, et a nom_ Maliur.” The Geog. Latin: “_Ibi invenitur una insula in qua est unus rex_ quem vocant Lamovich. _Civitas et insula vocantur_ Pontavich.” Ram.: “_Chiamasi la città_ Malaiur, e cosi l’isola Malaiur.” All this is very perplexed, and it is difficult to trace what may have been the true readings. The 30 miles beyond the straits, whether we give the direction _south-east_ as in G. T. or no, will not carry us to the vicinity of any place known to have been the site of an important city. As the point of departure in the next chapter is from _Pentam_ and not from Malaiur, the introduction of the latter is perhaps a digression from the route, on information derived either from hearsay or from a former voyage. But there is not information enough to decide what place is meant by Malaiur. Probabilities seem to me to be divided between _Palembang_, and its colony _Singhapura_. Palembang, according to the Commentaries of Alboquerque, was called by the Javanese MALAYO. The List of Sumatran Kingdoms in De Barros makes TANA-MALAYU the _next_ to Palembang. On the whole, I incline to this interpretation. [In _Valentyn_ (V. 1, _Beschryvinge van Malakka_, p. 317) we find it stated that the Malay people just dwelt on the River _Malayu_ in the Kingdom of Palembang, and were called from the River _Orang Malayu.—MS. Note._—H. Y.] [Professor Schlegel in his _Geog. Notes_, IV., tries to prove by Chinese authorities that Maliur and Tana-Malayu are two quite distinct countries, and he says that Maliur may have been situated on the coast opposite Singapore, perhaps a little more to the S.W. where now lies Malacca, and that Tana-Malayu may be placed in Asahan, upon the east coast of Sumatra.—H. C.] Singhapura was founded by an emigration from Palembang, itself a Javanese colony. It became the site of a flourishing kingdom, and was then, according to the tradition recorded by De Barros, the most important centre of population in those regions, “whither used to gather all the navigators of the Eastern Seas, from both East and West; to this great city of Singapura all flocked as to a general market.” (Dec. II. 6, 1.) This suits the description in our text well; but as Singhapura was in sight of any ship passing through the straits, mistake could hardly occur as to its position, even if it had not been visited. I omit _Malacca_ entirely from consideration, because the evidence appears to me conclusive against the existence of Malacca at this time. The Malay Chronology, as published by Valentyn, ascribes the foundation of that city to a king called Iskandar Shah, placing it in A.D. 1252, fixes the reign of Mahomed Shah, the third King of Malacca and first Mussulman King, as extending from 1276 to 1333 (not stating _when_ his conversion took place), and gives 8 kings in all between the foundation of the city and its capture by the Portuguese in 1511, a space, according to those data, of 259 years. As Sri Iskandar Shah, the founder, had reigned 3 years in Singhapura _before_ founding Malacca, and Mahomed Shah, the loser, reigned 2 years in Johore _after_ the loss of his capital, we have 264 years to divide among 8 kings, giving 33 years to each reign. This certainly indicates that the period requires considerable curtailment. Again, both De Barros and the Commentaries or Alboquerque ascribe the foundation of Malacca to a Javanese fugitive from Palembang called Paramisura, and Alboquerque makes Iskandar Shah (_Xaquem darxa_) the _son_ of Paramisura, and the first convert to Mahomedanism. _Four_ other kings reign in succession after him, the last of the four being Mahomed Shah, expelled in 1511. [Godinho de Eredia says expressly (Cap. i. _Do Citio Malaca_, p. 4) that Malacca was founded by _Permicuri, primeiro monarcha de Malayos_, in the year 1411, in the Pontificate of John XXIV., and in the reign of Don Juan II. of Castille and Dom Juan I. of Portugal.] The historian De Couto, whilst giving the same number of reigns from the conversion to the capture, places the former event about 1384. And the Commentaries of Alboquerque allow no more than some ninety years from the foundation of Malacca to his capture of the city. There is another approximate check to the chronology afforded by a Chinese record in the XIVth volume of Amyot’s collection. This informs us that Malacca first acknowledged itself as tributary to the Empire in 1405, the king being _Sili-ju-eul-sula_ (?). In 1411 the King of Malacca himself, now called _Peilimisula_ (Paramisura), came in person to the court of China to render homage. And in 1414 the Queen-Mother of Malacca came to court, bringing her son’s tribute. Now this notable fact of the visit of a King of Malacca to the court of China, and his acknowledgment of the Emperor’s supremacy, is also recorded in the Commentaries of Alboquerque. This work, it is true, attributes the visit, not to Paramisura, the founder of Malacca, but to his son and successor Iskandar Shah. This may be a question of a _title_ only, perhaps borne by both; but we seem entitled to conclude with confidence that Malacca was founded by a prince whose son was reigning, and visited the court of China in 1411. And the real chronology will be about midway between the estimates of De Couto and of Alboquerque. Hence Malacca did not exist for a century, more or less, after Polo’s voyage. [Mr. C. O. Blagden, in a paper on the Mediæval Chronology of Malacca (_Actes du XIᵉ Cong. Int. Orient. Paris_, 1897), writes (p. 249) that “if Malacca had been in the middle of the 14th century anything like the great emporium of trade which it certainly was in the 15th, Ibn Batuta would scarcely have failed to speak of it.” The foundation of Malacca by Sri Iskandar Shah in 1252, according to the _Sejarah Malayu_ “must be put at least 125 years later, and the establishment of the Muhammadan religion there would then precede by only a few years the end of the 14th century, instead of taking place about the end of the 13th, as is generally supposed” (p. 251). (Cf. _G. Schlegel, Geog. Notes_, XV.)—H. C.] Mr. Logan supposes that the form _Malayu-r_ may indicate that the Malay language of the 13th century “had not yet replaced the strong naso-guttural terminals by pure vowels.” We find the same form in a contemporary Chinese notice. This records that in the 2nd year of the Yuen, tribute was sent from Siam to the Emperor. “The Siamese had long been at war with the _Maliyi_ or MALIURH, but both nations laid aside their feud and submitted to China.” (_Valentyn_, V. p. 352; _Crawford’s Desc. Dict._ art. _Malacca_; _Lassen_, IV. 541 _seqq._; _Journ. Ind. Archip._ V. 572, II. 608–609; _De Barros_, Dec. II. 1. vi. c. 1; _Comentarios do grande Afonso d’Alboquerque_, Pt. III. cap. xvii.; _Couto_, Dec. IV. liv. ii.; _Wade_ in _Bowring’s Kingdom and People of Siam_, I. 72.) [From I-tsing we learn that going from China to India, the traveller visits the country of _Shih-li-fuh-shi_ (_Çrībhôja_ or simply _Fuh-shi_ = Bhôja), then _Mo-louo-yu_, which seems to Professor Chavannes to correspond to the _Malaiur_ of Marco Polo and to the modern Palembang, and which in the 10th century formed a part of Çribhôdja identified by Professor Chavannes with Zabedj. (_I-tsing_, p. 36.) The Rev. S. Beal has some remarks on this question in the _Merveilles de l’Inde_, p. 251, and he says that he thinks “there are reasons for placing this country [Çrībhôja], or island, on the East coast of Sumatra, and near Palembang, or, on the Palembang River.” Mr. Groeneveldt (_T’oung Pao_, VII. abst. p. 10) gives some extracts from Chinese authors, and then writes: “We have therefore to find now a place for the Molayu of I-tsing, the Malaiur of Marco Polo, the Malayo of Alboquerque, and the Tana-Malayu of De Barros, all which may be taken to mean the same place. I-tsing tells us that it took fifteen days to go from Bhôja to Molayu and fifteen days again to go from there to Kieh-ch’a. The latter place, suggesting a native name Kada, must have been situated in the north-west of Sumatra, somewhere near the present Atjeh, for going from there west, one arrived in thirty days at Magapatana, near Ceylon, whilst a northern course brought one in ten days to the Nicobar Islands. Molayu should thus lie half-way between Bhôja and Kieh-ch’a, but this indication must not be taken too literally where it is given for a sailing vessel, and there is also the statement of De Barros, which does not allow us to go too far away from Palembang, as he mentions Tana-Malayu _next_ to that place. We have therefore to choose between the next three larger rivers: those of Jambi, Indragiri, and Kampar, and there is an indication in favour of the last one, not very strong, it is true, but still not to be neglected. I-tsing tells us: ‘Le roi me donna des secours grâce auxquels je parvins au pays de _Mo-louo-yu_; j’y séjournai derechef pendant deux mois. Je changeai de direction pour aller dans le pays de _Kie-tcha_.’ The change of direction during a voyage along the east coast of Sumatra from Palembang to Atjeh is nowhere very perceptible, because the course is throughout more or less north-west, still one may speak of a change of direction at the mouth of the River Kampar, about the entrance of the Strait of Malacca, whence the track begins to run more west, whilst it is more north before. The country of Kampar is of little importance now, but it is not improbable that there has been a Hindoo settlement, as the ruins of religious monuments decidedly Buddhist are still existing on the upper course of the river, the only ones indeed on this side of the island, it being a still unexplained fact that the Hindoos in Java have built on a very large scale, and those of Sumatra hardly anything at all.”—Mr. Takakusu (_A Record of the Buddhist Religion_, p. xli.) proposes to place Shih-li-fuh-shi at Palembang and Mo-louo-yu farther on the northern coast of Sumatra.—(Cf. _G. Schlegel, Geog. Notes_, XVI.; _P. Pelliot, Bul. Ecole Franç. Ext. Orient_, II. pp. 94–96.)—H. C.] CHAPTER IX. CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF JAVA THE LESS. THE KINGDOMS OF FERLEC AND BASMA. When you leave the Island of Pentam and sail about 100 miles, you reach the Island of JAVA THE LESS. For all its name ’tis none so small but that it has a compass of two thousand miles or more. Now I will tell you all about this Island.{1} You see there are upon it eight kingdoms and eight crowned kings. The people are all Idolaters, and every kingdom has a language of its own. The Island hath great abundance of treasure, with costly spices, lign-aloes and spikenard and many others that never come into our parts.{2} Now I am going to tell you all about these eight kingdoms, or at least the greater part of them. But let me premise one marvellous thing, and that is the fact that this Island lies so far to the south that the North Star, little or much, is never to be seen! Now let us resume our subject, and first I will tell you of the kingdom of FERLEC. This kingdom, you must know, is so much frequented by the Saracen merchants that they have converted the natives to the Law of Mahommet—I mean the townspeople only, for the hill-people live for all the world like beasts, and eat human flesh, as well as all other kinds of flesh, clean or unclean. And they worship this, that, and the other thing; for in fact the first thing that they see on rising in the morning, that they do worship for the rest of the day.{3} Having told you of the kingdom of Ferlec, I will now tell of another which is called BASMA. When you quit the kingdom of Ferlec you enter upon that of Basma. This also is an independent kingdom, and the people have a language of their own; but they are just like beasts without laws or religion. They call themselves subjects of the Great Kaan, but they pay him no tribute; indeed they are so far away that his men could not go thither. Still all these Islanders declare themselves to be his subjects, and sometimes they send him curiosities as presents.{4} There are wild elephants in the country, and numerous unicorns, which are very nearly as big. They have hair like that of a buffalo, feet like those of an elephant, and a horn in the middle of the forehead, which is black and very thick. They do no mischief, however, with the horn, but with the tongue alone; for this is covered all over with long and strong prickles [and when savage with any one they crush him under their knees and then rasp him with their tongue]. The head resembles that of a wild boar, and they carry it ever bent towards the ground. They delight much to abide in mire and mud. ’Tis a passing ugly beast to look upon, and is not in the least like that which our stories tell of as being caught in the lap of a virgin; in fact, ’tis altogether different from what we fancied.{5} There are also monkeys here in great numbers and of sundry kinds; and goshawks as black as crows. These are very large birds and capital for fowling.{6} I may tell you moreover that when people bring home pygmies which they allege to come from India, ’tis all a lie and a cheat. For those little men, as they call them, are manufactured on this Island, and I will tell you how. You see there is on the Island a kind of monkey which is very small, and has a face just like a man’s. They take these, and pluck out all the hair except the hair of the beard and on the breast, and then they dry them and stuff them and daub them with saffron and other things until they look like men. But you see it is all a cheat; for nowhere in India nor anywhere else in the world were there ever men seen so small as these pretended pygmies. Now I will say no more of the kingdom of Basma, but tell you of the others in succession. NOTE 1.—Java the Less is the Island of SUMATRA. Here there is no exaggeration in the dimension assigned to its circuit, which is about 2300 miles. The old Arabs of the 9th century give it a circuit of 800 parasangs, or say 2800 miles, and Barbosa reports the estimate of the Mahomedan seamen as 2100 miles. Compare the more reasonable accuracy of these estimates of Sumatra, which the navigators knew in its entire compass, with the wild estimates of Java Proper, of which they knew but the northern coast. Polo by no means stands alone in giving the name of Java to the island now called Sumatra. The terms _Jawa, Jawi_, were applied by the Arabs to the islands and productions of the Archipelago generally (_e.g._, _Lubán Jawí_, “Java frankincense,” whence by corruption _Benzoin_), but also specifically to Sumatra. Thus Sumatra is the _Jáwah_ both of Abulfeda and of Ibn Batuta, the latter of whom spent some time on the island, both in going to China and on his return. The Java also of the Catalan Map appears to be Sumatra. _Javaku_ again is the name applied in the Singalese chronicles to the Malays in general. _Jáu_ and _Dawa_ are the names still applied by the Battaks and the people of Nias respectively to the Malays, showing probably that these were looked on as Javanese by those tribes who did not partake of the civilisation diffused from Java. In Siamese also the Malay language is called _Chawa_; and even on the Malay peninsula, the traditional slang for a half-breed born from a Kling (or Coromandel) father and a Malay mother is _Jáwí Păkăn_, “a Jawi (_i.e._ Malay) of the market.” De Barros says that all the people of Sumatra called themselves by the common name of _Jauijs_. (Dec. III. liv. v. cap. 1.) There is some reason to believe that the application of the name Java to Sumatra is of very old date. For the oldest inscription of ascertained date in the Archipelago which has yet been read, a Sanskrit one from Pagaroyang, the capital of the ancient Malay state of Menang-kabau in the heart of Sumatra, bearing a date equivalent to A.D. 656, entitles the monarch whom it commemorates, Adityadharma by name, the king of “the First Java” (or rather Yava). This Mr. Friedrich interprets to mean Sumatra. It is by no means impossible that the _Iabadiu_, or Yávadvípa of Ptolemy may be Sumatra rather than Java. An accomplished Dutch Orientalist suggests that the Arabs originally applied the terms Great Java and Little Java to Java and Sumatra respectively, not because of their imagined relation in size, but as indicating the former to be Java _Proper_. Thus also, he says, there is a _Great Acheh_ (Achin) which does not imply that the place so called is greater than the well-known state of Achin (of which it is in fact a part), but because it is Acheh _Proper_. A like feeling may have suggested the Great Bulgaria, Great Hungary, Great Turkey of the mediæval travellers. These were, or were supposed to be, the original seats of the Bulgarians, Hungarians, and Turks. The _Great Horde_ of the Kirghiz Kazaks is, as regards numbers, not the greatest, but the smallest of the three. But the others look upon it as the most ancient. The Burmese are alleged to call the _Rakhain_ or people of Arakan _Mranma Gyí_ or Great Burmese, and to consider their dialect the most ancient form of the language. And, in like manner, we may perhaps account for the term of _Little Thai_, formerly applied to the Siamese in distinction from the _Great Thai_, their kinsmen of Laos. In after-days, when the name of Sumatra for the Great Island had established itself, the traditional term “Little Java” sought other applications. Barbosa seems to apply it to _Sumbawa_; Pigafetta and Cavendish apply it to _Bali_, and in this way Raffles says it was still used in his own day. Geographers were sometimes puzzled about it. Magini says Java Minor is almost _incognita_. (_Turnour’s Epitome_, p. 45; _Van der Tuuk, Bladwijzer tot de drie Stukken van het Bataksche Leesboek_, p. 43, etc.; _Friedrich_ in _Bat. Transactions_, XXVI.; _Levchine, Les Kirghíz Kazaks_, 300, 301.) NOTE 2.—As regards the _treasure_, Sumatra was long famous for its produce of gold. The export is estimated in Crawford’s History at 35,530 ounces; but no doubt it was much more when the native states were in a condition of greater wealth and civilisation, as they undoubtedly were some centuries ago. Valentyn says that in some years Achin had exported 80 bahars, equivalent to 32,000 or 36,000 lbs. avoirdupois (!). Of the other products named, lign-aloes or eagle-wood is a product of Sumatra, and is or was very abundant in Campar on the eastern coast. The _Ain-i-Akbari_ says this article was usually brought to India from _Achin_ and Tenasserim. Both this and _spikenard_ are mentioned by Polo’s contemporary, Kazwini, among the products of Java (probably Sumatra), viz., _Java lign-aloes (al-’Ud al-Jáwi)_, camphor _spikenard (Sumbul)_, etc. _Náráwastu_ is the name of a grass with fragrant roots much used as a perfume in the Archipelago, and I see this is rendered _spikenard_ in a translation from the Malay Annals in the _Journal of the Archipelago_. With regard to the kingdoms of the island which Marco proceeds to describe, it is well to premise that all the six which he specifies are to be looked for towards the north end of the island, viz., in regular succession up the northern part of the east coast, along the north coast, and down the northern part of the west coast. This will be made tolerably clear in the details, and Marco himself intimates at the end of the next chapter that the six kingdoms he describes were all at _this_ side or end of the island: “_Or vos avon contée de cesti roiames que sunt de_ ceste _partie de scete ysle, et des autres roiames de_ l’autre _partie ne voz conteron-noz rien._” Most commentators have made confusion by scattering them up and down, nearly all round the coast of Sumatra. The best remarks on the subject I have met with are by Mr. Logan in his _Journal of the Ind. Arch._ II. 610. The “kingdoms” were certainly many more than eight throughout the island. At a later day De Barros enumerates 29 on the coast alone. Crawford reckons 15 different nations and languages on Sumatra and its dependent isles, of which 11 belong to the great island itself. (_Hist. of Ind. Arch._ III. 482; _Valentyn_, V. (Sumatra), p. 5; _Desc. Dict._ p. 7, 417; _Gildemeister_, p. 193; _Crawf. Malay Dict._ 119; _J. Ind. Arch._ V. 313.) NOTE 3.—The kingdom of PARLÁK is mentioned in the _Shijarat Malayu_ or Malay Chronicle, and also in a Malay History of the Kings of Pasei, of which an abstract is given by Dulaurier, in connection with the other states of which we shall speak presently. It is also mentioned (_Barlak_), as a city of the Archipelago, by Rashiduddin. Of its extent we have no knowledge, but the position (probably of its northern extremity) is preserved in the native name, _Tanjong_ (_i.e._ Cape) _Parlák_ of the N.E. horn of Sumatra, called by European seamen “Diamond Point,” whilst the river and town of _Perla_, about 32 miles south of that point, indicate, I have little doubt, the site of the old capital.[1] Indeed in Malombra’s Ptolemy (Venice, 1574), I find the next city of Sumatra beyond _Pacen_ marked as _Pulaca_. The form _Ferlec_ shows that Polo got it from the Arabs, who having no _p_ often replace that letter by _f_. It is notable that the Malay alphabet, which is that of the Arabic with necessary modifications, represents the sound _p_ not by the Persian _pe_ (پ), but by the Arabic _fe_ (ف), with three dots instead of one (ڤ). A Malay chronicle of Achin dates the accession of the first Mahomedan king of that state, the nearest point of Sumatra to India and Arabia, in the year answering to A.D. 1205, and this is the earliest conversion among the Malays on record. It is doubtful, indeed, whether there _were_ Kings of _Achin_ in 1205, or for centuries after (unless indeed _Lambri_ is to be regarded as Achin), but the introduction of Islam may be confidently assigned to that age. The notice of the Hill-people, who lived like beasts and ate human flesh, presumably attaches to the Battas or Bataks, occupying high table-lands in the interior of Sumatra. They do not now extend north beyond lat. 3°. The interior of Northern Sumatra seems to remain a _terra incognita_, and even with the coast we are far less familiar than our ancestors were 250 years ago. The Battas are remarkable among cannibal nations as having attained or retained some degree of civilisation, and as being possessed of an alphabet and documents. Their anthropophagy is now professedly practised according to precise laws, and only in prescribed cases. Thus: (1) A commoner seducing a Raja’s wife must be eaten; (2) Enemies taken in battle _outside their village_ must be eaten _alive_; those taken in storming a village may be spared; (3) Traitors and spies have the same doom, but may ransom themselves for 60 dollars a-head. There is nothing more horrible or extraordinary in all the stories of mediæval travellers than the _facts_ of this institution. (See _Junghuhn_, _Die Battaländer_, II. 158.) And it is evident that human flesh is also at times kept in the houses for food. Junghuhn, who could not abide Englishmen but was a great admirer of the Battas, tells how after a perilous and hungry flight he arrived in a friendly village, and the food that was offered by his hosts was the flesh of two prisoners who had been slaughtered the day before (I. 249). Anderson was also told of one of the most powerful Batta chiefs who would eat only such food, and took care to be supplied with it (225). The story of the Battas is that in old times their communities lived in peace and knew no such custom; but a Devil, _Nanalain_, came bringing strife, and introduced this man-eating, at a period which they spoke of (in 1840) as “three men’s lives ago,” or about 210 years previous to that date. Junghuhn, with some enlargement of the time, is disposed to accept their story of the practice being comparatively modern. This cannot be, for their hideous custom is alluded to by a long chain of early authorities. Ptolemy’s anthropophagi may perhaps be referred to the smaller islands. But the Arab _Relations_ of the 9th century speak of man-eaters in Al-Ramni, undoubtedly Sumatra. Then comes our traveller, followed by Odoric, and in the early part of the 15th century by Conti, who names the _Batech_ cannibals. Barbosa describes them without naming them; Galvano (p. 108) speaks of them by name; as does De Barros. (Dec. III. liv. viii. cap. 1.) The practice of worshipping the first thing seen in the morning is related of a variety of nations. Pigafetta tells it of the people of Gilolo, and Varthema in his account of Java (which I fear is fiction) ascribes it to some people of that island. Richard Eden tells it of the Laplanders. (_Notes on Russia_, Hak. Soc. II. 224.) NOTE 4.—_Basma_, as Valentyn indicated, seems to be the PASEI of the Malays, which the Arabs probably called _Basam_ or the like, for the Portuguese wrote it PACEM. [Mr. J. T. Thomson writes (_Proc. R. G. S._ XX. p. 221) that of its actual position there can be no doubt, it being the Passier of modern charts.—H. C.] Pasei is mentioned in the Malay Chronicle as founded by Malik al-Ṣálih, the first Mussulman sovereign of Samudra, the next of Marco’s kingdoms. He assigned one of these states to each of his two sons, Malik al-Dháhir and Malik al-Mansúr; the former of whom was reigning at Samudra, and apparently over the whole coast, when Ibn Batuta was there (about 1346–47). There is also a Malay History of the Kings of Pasei to which reference has already been made. Somewhat later Pasei was a great and famous city. Majapahit, Malacca, and Pasei being reckoned the three great cities of the Archipelago. The stimulus of conversion to Islam had not taken effect on those Sumatran states at the time of Polo’s voyage, but it did so soon afterwards, and, low as they have now fallen, their power at one time was no delusion. Achin, which rose to be the chief of them, in 1615 could send against Portuguese Malacca an expedition of more than 500 sail, 100 of which were galleys larger than any then constructed in Europe, and carried from 600 to 800 men each. [Dr. Schlegel writes to me that according to the Malay Dictionary of Von de Wall and Van der Tuuk, ii. 414–415, Polo’s _Basman_ is the Arab pronunciation of _Pasĕman_, the modern Ophir in West Sumatra; _Gūnung Pasĕman_ is Mount Ophir.—H. C.] [Illustration: The three Asiatic Rhinoceroses; (upper) Indicus, (middle) Sondaicus, (lower) Sumatranus.[2]] NOTE 5.—The elephant seems to abound in the forest-tracts throughout the whole length of Sumatra, and the species is now determined to be a distinct one (_E. Sumatranus_) from that of continental India and identical with that of Ceylon.[3] The Sumatran elephant in former days was caught and tamed extensively. Ibn Batuta speaks of 100 elephants in the train of Al Dháhir, the King of Sumatra Proper, and in the 17th century Beaulieu says the King of Achin had always 900. Giov. d’Empoli also mentions them at Pedir in the beginning of the 16th century; and see _Pasei Chronicle_ quoted in _J. As._ sér. IV. tom. ix. pp. 258–259. This speaks of elephants as used in war by the people of Pasei, and of elephant-hunts as a royal diversion. The _locus_ of that best of elephant stories, the elephant’s revenge on the tailor, was at Achin. As Polo’s account of the rhinoceros is evidently from nature, it is notable that he should not only _call_ it unicorn, but speak so precisely of its one horn, for the characteristic, if not the only, species on the island, is a two-horned one (_Rh. Sumatranus_),[4] and his mention of the buffalo-like hair applies only to this one. This species exists also on the Indo-Chinese continent and, it is believed, in Borneo. I have seen it in the Arakan forests as high as 19° 20′; one was taken not long since near Chittagong; and Mr. Blyth tells me a stray one has been seen in Assam or its borders. [Ibn Khordâdhbeh says (_De Goeje’s Transl._ p. 47) that rhinoceros is to be found in Kâmeroun (Assam), which borders on China. It has a horn, a cubit long, and two palms thick; when the horn is split, inside is found on the black ground the white figure of a man, a quadruped, a fish, a peacock or some other bird.—H. C.] [John Evelyn mentions among the curiosities kept in the Treasury at St. Denis: “A faire unicorne’s horn, sent by a K. of Persia, about 7 foote long.” _Diary_, 1643, 12th Nov.—H. C.] What the Traveller says of the animals’ love of mire and mud is well illustrated by the manner in which the _Semangs_ or Negritoes of the Malay Peninsula are said to destroy him: “This animal ... is found frequently in marshy places, with its whole body immersed in the mud, and part of the head only visible.... Upon the dry weather setting in ... the mud becomes hard and crusted, and the rhinoceros cannot effect his escape without considerable difficulty and exertion. The Semangs prepare themselves with large quantities of combustible materials, with which they quietly approach the animal, who is aroused from his reverie by an immense fire over him, which being kept well supplied by the Semangs with fresh fuel, soon completes his destruction, and renders him in a fit state to make a meal of.” (_J. Ind. Arch._ IV. 426.)[5] There is a great difference in aspect between the one-horned species (_Rh. Sondaicus_ and _Rh. Indicus_) and the two-horned. The Malays express what that difference is admirably, in calling the last _Bádak-Karbáu_, “the Buffalo-Rhinoceros,” and the Sondaicus _Bádak-Gájah_, “the Elephant-Rhinoceros.” The belief in the formidable nature of the tongue of the rhinoceros is very old and wide-spread, though I can find no foundation for it but the rough _appearance_ of the organ. [“His tongue also is somewhat of a rarity, for, if he can get any of his antagonists down, he will lick them so clean, that he leaves neither skin nor flesh to cover his bones.” (_A. Hamilton_, ed. 1727, II. 24. _M.S. Note of Yule_.) Compare what is said of the tongue of the Yak, I. p. 277.—H. C.] The Chinese have the belief, and the Jesuit Lecomte attests it from professed observation of the animal in confinement. (_Chin. Repos._ VII. 137; _Lecomte_, II. 406.) [In a Chinese work quoted by Mr. Groeneveldt (_T’oung Pao_, VII. No. 2, abst. p. 19) we read that “the rhinoceros has thorns on its tongue and always eats the thorns of plants and trees, but never grasses or leaves.”—H. C.] The legend to which Marco alludes, about the Unicorn allowing itself to be ensnared by a maiden (and of which Marsden has made an odd perversion in his translation, whilst indicating the true meaning in his note), is also an old and general one. It will be found, for example, in Brunetto Latini, in the _Image du Monde_, in the _Mirabilia_ of Jordanus,[6] and in the verses of Tzetzes. The latter represents Monoceros as attracted not by the maiden’s charms but by her perfumery. So he is inveigled and blindfolded by a stout young knave, disguised as a maiden and drenched with scent:— “’Tis then the huntsmen hasten up, abandoning their ambush; Clean from his head they chop his horn, prized antidote to poison; And let the docked and luckless beast escape into the jungles.” —V. 399, _seqq._ In the cut which we give of this from a mediæval source the horn of the unicorn is evidently the tusk of a _narwhal_. This confusion arose very early, as may be seen from its occurrence in Aelian, who says that the horn of the unicorn or _Kartazōnon_ (the Arab _Karkaddan_ or Rhinoceros) was not straight but twisted (ἐλιγμούς ἔχον τινάς, Hist. An. xvi. 20). The mistake may also be traced in the illustrations to Cosmas Indicopleustes from his own drawings, and it long endured, as may be seen in Jerome Cardan’s description of a unicorn’s horn which he saw suspended in the church of St. Denis; as well as in a circumstance related by P. della Valle (II. 491; and Cardan, _de Varietate_, c. xcvii.). Indeed the supporter of the Royal arms retains the narwhal horn. To this popular error is no doubt due the reading in Pauthier’s text, which makes the horn _white_ instead of black. [Illustration: Monoceros and the Maiden.[7]] We may quote the following quaint version of the fable from the Bestiary of Philip de Thaun, published by Mr. Wright (_Popular Treatises on Science_, etc. p. 81): “Monosceros est Beste, un corne ad en la teste, Purceo ad si a nun, de buc ad façun; Par Pucele est prise; or vez en quel guise. Quant hom le volt cacer et prendre et enginner, Si vent hom al forest ù sis riparis est; Là met une Pucele hors de sein sa mamele, Et par odurement Monosceros la sent; Dunc vent à la Pucele, et si baiset la mamele, En sein devant se dort, issi vent à sa mort Li hom suivent atant ki l’ocit en dormant U trestout vif le prent, si fais puis sun talent. Grant chose signifie.”.... And so goes on to moralise the fable. NOTE 6.—In the _J. Indian Archip._ V. 285, there is mention of the _Falco Malaiensis_, black, with a double white-and-brown spotted tail, said to belong to the ospreys, “but does not disdain to take birds and other game.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] See _Anderson’s Mission to East Coast of Sumatra_, pp. 229, 233 and map. The _Ferlec_ of Polo was identified by Valentyn. (_Sumatra_, in vol. v. p. 21.) Marsden remarks that a terminal _k_ is in Sumatra always softened or omitted in pronunciation. (_H. of Sum._ 1st. ed. p. 163.) Thus we have Perlak, and _Perla_, as we have Battak and _Batta_. [2] Since this engraving was made a fourth species has been established, _Rhin. lasyotis_, found near Chittagong. [3] The elephant of India has 6 true ribs and 13 false ribs, that of Sumatra and Ceylon has 6 true and 14 false. [4] Marsden, however, does say that a one-horned species (_Rh. sondaicus_?) is also found on Sumatra (3rd ed. of his _H. of Sumatra_, p. 116). [5] An American writer professes to have discovered in Missouri the fossil remains of a bogged mastodon, which had been killed precisely in this way by human contemporaries. (See _Lubbock, Preh. Times_, 2d ed. 279.) [6] _Tresor_, p. 253; _N. and E._, V. 263; _Jordanus_, p. 43. [7] Another mediæval illustration of the subject is given in _Les Arts au Moyen Age_, p. 499, from the binding of a book. It is allegorical, and the Maiden is there the Virgin Mary. CHAPTER X. THE KINGDOMS OF SAMARA AND DAGROIAN. So you must know that when you leave the kingdom of Basma you come to another kingdom called Samara, on the same Island.{1} And in that kingdom Messer Marco Polo was detained five months by the weather, which would not allow of his going on. And I tell you that here again neither the Pole-star nor the stars of the Maestro{2} were to be seen, much or little. The people here are wild Idolaters; they have a king who is great and rich; but they also call themselves subjects of the Great Kaan. When Messer Mark was detained on this Island five months by contrary winds, [he landed with about 2000 men in his company; they dug large ditches on the landward side to encompass the party, resting at either end on the sea-haven, and within these ditches they made bulwarks or stockades of timber] for fear of those brutes of man-eaters; [for there is great store of wood there; and the Islanders having confidence in the party supplied them with victuals and other things needful.] There is abundance of fish to be had, the best in the world. The people have no wheat, but live on rice. Nor have they any wine except such as I shall now describe. You must know that they derive it from a certain kind of tree that they have. When they want wine they cut a branch of this, and attach a great pot to the stem of the tree at the place where the branch was cut; in a day and a night they will find the pot filled. This wine is excellent drink, and is got both white and red. [It is of such surpassing virtue that it cures dropsy and tisick and spleen.] The trees resemble small date-palms; ... and when cutting a branch no longer gives a flow of wine, they water the root of the tree, and before long the branches again begin to give out wine as before.{3} They have also great quantities of Indian nuts [as big as a man’s head], which are good to eat when fresh; [being sweet and savoury, and white as milk. The inside of the meat of the nut is filled with a liquor like clear fresh water, but better to the taste, and more delicate than wine or any other drink that ever existed.] Now that we have done telling you about this kingdom, let us quit it, and we will tell you of Dagroian. When you leave the kingdom of Samara you come to another which is called DAGROIAN. It is an independent kingdom, and has a language of its own. The people are very wild, but they call themselves the subjects of the Great Kaan. I will tell you a wicked custom of theirs.{4} When one of them is ill they send for their sorcerers, and put the question to them, whether the sick man shall recover of his sickness or no. If they say that he will recover, then they let him alone till he gets better. But if the sorcerers foretell that the sick man is to die, the friends send for certain judges of theirs to put to death him who has thus been condemned by the sorcerers to die. These men come, and lay so many clothes upon the sick man’s mouth that they suffocate him. And when he is dead they have him cooked, and gather together all the dead man’s kin, and eat him. And I assure you they do suck the very bones till not a particle of marrow remains in them; for they say that if any nourishment remained in the bones this would breed worms, and then the worms would die for want of food, and the death of those worms would be laid to the charge of the deceased man’s soul. And so they eat him up stump and rump. And when they have thus eaten him they collect his bones and put them in fine chests, and carry them away, and place them in caverns among the mountains where no beast nor other creature can get at them. And you must know also that if they take prisoner a man of another country, and he cannot pay a ransom in coin, they kill him and eat him straightway. It is a very evil custom and a parlous.{5} Now that I have told you about this kingdom let us leave it, and I will tell you of Lambri. NOTE 1.—I have little doubt that in Marco’s dictation the name was really _Samatra_, and it is possible that we have a trace of this in the _Samarcha_ (for _Samartha_) of the Crusca MS. The _Shijarat Malayu_ has a legend, with a fictitious etymology, of the foundation of the city and kingdom of _Samudra_, or SUMATRA, by Marah Silu, a fisherman near Pasangan, who had acquired great wealth, as wealth is got in fairy tales. The name is probably the Sanskrit _Samudra_, “the sea.” Possibly it may have been imitated from Dwára Samudra, at that time a great state and city of Southern India. [We read in the Malay Annals, _Salalat al Salatin_, translated by Mr. J. T. Thomson (_Proc. R. G. S._ XX. p. 216): “Mara Silu ascended the eminence, when he saw an ant as big as a cat; so he caught it, and ate it, and on the place he erected his residence, which he named Samandara, which means Big Ant (_Semut besar_ in Malay).”—H. C.] Mara Silu having become King of Samudra was converted to Islam, and took the name of Malik al-Ṣálih. He married the daughter of the King of _Parlák_, by whom he had two sons; and to have a principality for each he founded the city and kingdom of _Pasei_. Thus we have Marco’s three first kingdoms, Ferlec, Basma, and Samara, connected together in a satisfactory manner in the Malayan story. It goes on to relate the history of the two sons Al-Dháhir and Al-Mansúr. Another version is given in the history of Pasei already alluded to, with such differences as might be expected when the oral traditions of several centuries came to be written down. Ibn Batuta, about 1346, on his way to China, spent fifteen days at the court of Samudra, which he calls _Sămăthrah_ or _Sămŭthrah_. The king whom he found there reigning was the Sultan Al-Malik Al-Dháhir, a most zealous Mussulman, surrounded by doctors of theology, and greatly addicted to religious discussions, as well as a great warrior and a powerful prince. The city was 4 miles from its port, which the traveller calls _Sărha_; he describes the capital as a large and fine town, surrounded with an enceinte and bastions of timber. The court displayed all the state of Mahomedan royalty, and the Sultan’s dominions extended for many days along the coast. In accordance with Ibn Batuta’s picture, the Malay Chronicle represents the court of Pasei (which we have seen to be intimately connected with Samudra) as a great focus of theological studies about this time. There can be little doubt that Ibn Batuta’s Malik Al-Dháhir is the prince of the Malay Chronicle, the son of the first Mahomedan king. We find in 1292 that Marco says nothing of Mahomedanism; the people are still wild idolaters; but the king is already a rich and powerful prince. This may have been Malik al-Ṣálih before his conversion; but it may be doubted if the Malay story be correct in representing him as the _founder_ of the city. Nor is this apparently so represented in the Book of the Kings of Pasei. Before Ibn Batuta’s time, Sumatra or Samudra appears in the travels of Fr. Odoric. After speaking of _Lamori_ (to which we shall come presently), he says: “In the same island, towards the south, is another kingdom, by name SUMOLTRA, in which is a singular generation of people, for they brand themselves on the face with a hot iron in some twelve places,” etc. This looks as if the conversion to Islam was still (_circa_ 1323) very incomplete. Rashiduddin also speaks of _Súmútra_ as lying beyond Lamuri. (_Elliot_, I. p. 70.) The power attained by the dynasty of Malik al-Ṣálih, and the number of Mahomedans attracted to his court, probably led in the course of the 14th century to the extension of the name of Sumatra to the whole island. For when visited early in the next century by Nicolo Conti, we are told that he “went to a fine city of the island of Taprobana, which island is called by the natives _Shamuthera_.” Strange to say, he speaks of the natives as all idolaters. Fra Mauro, who got much from Conti, gives us _Isola Siamotra_ over _Taprobana_; and it shows at once his own judgment and want of confidence in it, when he notes elsewhere that “Ptolemy, professing to describe Taprobana, has really only described Saylan.” We have no means of settling the exact position of the city of Sumatra, though possibly an enquiry among the natives of that coast might still determine the point. Marsden and Logan indicate Samarlanga, but I should look for it nearer Pasei. As pointed out by Mr. Braddell in the _J. Ind. Arch._, Malay tradition represents the site of Pasei as selected on a hunting expedition from Samudra, which seems to imply tolerable proximity. And at the marriage of the Princess of Parlak to Malik Al-Ṣálih, we are told that the latter went to receive her on landing at Jambu Ayer (near Diamond Point), and thence conducted her to the city of Samudra. I should seek Samudra near the head of the estuary-like Gulf of Pasei, called in the charts _Telo_ (or Talak) _Samawe_; a place very likely to have been sought as a shelter to the Great Kaan’s fleet during the south-west monsoon. Fine timber, of great size, grows close to the shore of this bay,[1] and would furnish material for Marco’s stockades. When the Portuguese first reached those regions Pedir was the leading state upon the coast, and certainly no state _called_ Sumatra continued to exist. Whether the _city_ continued to exist even in decay is not easy to discern. The _Aín-i-Akbari_ says that the best civet is that which is brought from _the seaport town of Sumatra, in the territory of Achin_, and is called _Sumatra Zabád_; but this may have been based on old information. Valentyn seems to recognise the existence of a place of note called _Samadra_ or _Samotdara_, though it is not entered on his map. A famous mystic theologian who flourished under the great King of Achin, Iskandar Muda, and died in 1630, bore the name of Shamsuddín _Shamatráni_, which seems to point to the city of Sumatra as his birth place.[2] The most distinct mention that I know of the city so called, in the Portuguese period, occurs in the _soi-disant_ “Voyage which Juan Serano made when he fled from Malacca,” in 1512, published by Lord Stanley of Alderley, at the end of his translation of Barbosa. This man speaks of the “island of Samatra” as named from “_a city of this northern part_.” And on leaving Pedir, having gone down the northern coast, he says, “I drew towards the south and south-east direction, and reached to another country and city which is called Samatra,” and so on. Now this describes the position in which the city of Sumatra should have been if it existed. But all the rest of the tract is mere plunder from Varthema.[3] There is, however, a like intimation in a curious letter respecting the Portuguese discoveries, written from Lisbon in 1515, by a German, Valentine Moravia, who was probably the same Valentyn Fernandez, the German, who published the Portuguese edition of Marco Polo at Lisbon in 1502, and who shows an extremely accurate conception of Indian geography. He says: “La maxima insula la quale è chiamata da Marcho Polo Veneto Iava Minor, et al presente si chiama _Sumotra_, da un _emporie di dicta insula_” (printed by _De Gubernatis, Viagg. Ita._ etc., p. 170). Several considerations point to the probability that the states of Pasei and Sumatra had become united, and that the town of Sumatra may have been represented by the Pacem of the Portuguese.[4] I have to thank Mr. G. Phillips for the copy of a small Chinese chart showing the northern coast of the island, which he states to be from “one of about the 13th century.” I much doubt the date, but the map is valuable as showing the town of Sumatra (_Sumantala_). This seems to be placed in the Gulf of Pasei, and very near where Pasei itself still exists. An extract of a “Chinese account of about A.D. 1413” accompanied the map. This states that the town was situated some distance up a river, so as to be reached in two tides. There was a village at the mouth of the river called _Talumangkin_.[5] [Mr. E. H. Parker writes (_China Review_, XXIV. p. 102): “Colonel Yule’s remarks about Pasei are borne out by Chinese History (Ming, 325, 20, 24), which states that in 1521 Pieh-tu-lu (Pestrello [for Perestrello?]) having failed in China ‘went for’ _Pa-si_. Again ‘from Pa-si, Malacca, to Luzon, they swept the seas, and all the other nations were afraid of them.’”—H. C.] Among the Indian states which were prevailed on to send tribute (or presents) to Kúblái in 1286, we find _Sumutala_. The chief of this state is called in the Chinese record _Tu-‘han-pa-ti_, which seems to be just the Malay words _Tuan Pati_, “Lord Ruler.” No doubt this was the rising state of Sumatra, of which we have been speaking; for it will be observed that Marco says the people of that state called themselves the Kaan’s subjects. Rashiduddin makes the same statement regarding the people of Java (_i.e._ the island of Sumatra), and even of Nicobar: “They are all subject to the Kaan.” It is curious to find just the same kind of statements about the princes of the Malay Islands acknowledging themselves subjects of Charles V., in the report of the surviving commander of Magellan’s ship to that emperor (printed by Baldelli-Boni, I. lxvii.). Pauthier has curious Chinese extracts containing a notable passage respecting the disappearance of Sumatra Proper from history: “In the years _Wen-chi_ (1573–1615), the Kingdom of Sumatra divided in two, and the new state took the name of _Achi_ (Achin). After that Sumatra was no more heard of.” (_Gaubil_, 205; _De Mailla_, IX. 429; _Elliot_, I. 71; _Pauthier_, pp. 605 and 567.) NOTE 2.—“_Vos di que la Tramontaine ne part. Et encore vos di que l’estoilles dou Meistre ne aparent ne pou ne grant_” (G. T.). The _Tramontaine_ is the Pole star:— “De nostre Père l’Apostoille Volsisse qu’il semblast l’estoile Qui ne se muet ... Par cele estoile vont et viennent Et lor sen et lor voie tiennent Il l’apelent la _tres montaigne_.” —_La Bible Guiot de Provins_ in _Barbazan_, by _Méon_, II. 377. The _Meistre_ is explained by Pauthier to be Arcturus; but this makes Polo’s error greater than it is. Brunetto Latini says: “Devers la tramontane en a il i. autre (vent) plus debonaire, qui a non _Chorus_. Cestui apelent li marinier MAISTRE _por vij. estoiles qui sont en celui meisme leu_,” etc. (_Li Tresors_, p. 122). _Magister_ or _Magistra_ in mediæval Latin, _La Maistre_ in old French, signifies “the beam of a plough.” Possibly this accounts for the application of _Maistre_ to the Great Bear, or _Plough_. But on the other hand the pilot’s art is called in old French _maistrance_. Hence this constellation may have had the name as the pilot’s guide,—like our _Lode_-star. The name was probably given to the N.W. point under a latitude in which the Great Bear sets in that quarter. In this way many of the points of the old Arabian _Rose des Vents_ were named from the rising or setting of certain constellations. (See _Reinaud’s Abulfeda_, Introd. pp. cxcix.–cci.) NOTE 3.—The tree here intended, and which gives the chief supply of toddy and sugar in the Malay Islands, is the _Areng Saccharifera_ (from the Javanese name), called by the Malays _Gomuti_, and by the Portuguese _Saguer_. It has some resemblance to the date-palm, to which Polo compares it, but it is a much coarser and wilder-looking tree, with a general raggedness, “_incompta et adspectu tristis_,” as Rumphius describes it. It is notable for the number of plants that find a footing in the joints of its stem. On one tree in Java I have counted thirteen species of such parasites, nearly all ferns. The tree appears in the foreground of the cut at p. 273. Crawford thus describes its treatment in obtaining toddy: “One of the _spathae_, or shoots of fructification, is, on the first appearance of the fruit, beaten for three successive days with a small stick, with the view of determining the sap to the wounded part. The shoot is then cut off, a little way from the root, and the liquor which pours out is received in pots.... The _Gomuti_ palm is fit to yield toddy at 9 or 10 years old, and continues to yield it for 2 years at the average rate of 3 quarts a day.” (_Hist. of Ind. Arch._ I. 398.) The words omitted in translation are unintelligible to me: “_et sunt quatre raimes trois cel en_.” (G. T.) [“Polo’s description of the wine-pots of Samara hung on the trees ‘like date-palms,’ agrees precisely with the Chinese account of the _shu theu tsiu_ made from ‘coir trees like cocoa-nut palms’ manufactured by the Burmese. Therefore it seems more likely that Samara is Siam (still pronounced _Shumuro_ in Japan, and _Siamlo_ in Hakka), than Sumatra.” (_Parker_, _China Review_, XIV. p. 359.) I think it useless to discuss this theory.—H. C.] NOTE 4.—No one has been able to identify this state. Its position, however, must have been near PEDIR, and perhaps it was practically the same. Pedir was the most flourishing of those Sumatran states at the appearance of the Portuguese. Rashiduddin names among the towns of the Archipelago _Dalmian_, which may perhaps be a corrupt transcript of Dagroian. Mr. Phillips’s Chinese extracts, already cited, state that west of Sumatra (proper) were two small kingdoms, the first _Nakú-urh_, the second _Liti_. Nakú-urh, which seems to be the _Ting-’ho-’rh_ of Pauthier’s extracts, which sent tribute to the Kaan, and may probably be Dagroian as Mr. Phillips supposes, was also called the _Kingdom of Tattooed Folk_. [Mr. G. Phillips wrote since (_J. R. A. S._, July 1895, p. 528): “Dragoian has puzzled many commentators, but on (a) Chinese chart ... there is a country called _Ta-hua-mien_, which in the Amoy dialect is pronounced _Dakolien_, in which it is very easy to recognise the Dragoian, or Dagoyam, of Marco Polo.” In his paper of _The Seaports of India and Ceylon_ (_Jour. China B. R. A. S._, xx. 1885, p. 221), Mr. Phillips, referring to his Chinese Map, already said: _Ta-hsiao-hua-mien_, in the Amoy dialect _Toa-sio-hoe_ (or _Ko_)-_bin_, “The Kingdom of the Greater and Lesser Tattooed Faces.” The Toa-Ko-bin, the greater tattooed-face people, most probably represents the Dagroian, or Dagoyum, of Marco Polo. This country was called _Na-ku-êrh_, and Ma Huan says, “the King of _Na-ku-êrh_ is also called the King of the Tattooed Faces.”—H. C.] Tattooing is ascribed by Friar Odoric to the people of _Sumoltra_. (_Cathay_, p. 86.) _Liti_ is evidently the _Lidé_ of De Barros, which by his list lay immediately east of Pedir. This would place Nakú-urh about Samarlangka. Beyond _Liti_ was _Lanmoli_ (_i.e._ Lambri). [See _G. Schlegel_, _Geog. Notes_, XVI. Li-taï, Nakur.—H. C.] There is, or was fifty years ago, a small port between Ayer Labu and Samarlangka, called _Darián_-Gadé (_Great_ Darian?). This is the nearest approach to Dagroian that I have met with. (_N. Ann. des V._, tom. xviii. p. 16.) NOTE 5.—Gasparo Balbi (1579–1587) heard the like story of the Battas under Achin. True or false, the charge against them has come down to our times. The like is told by Herodotus of the Paddaei in India, of the Massagetæ, and of the Issedonians; by Strabo of the Caspians and of the Derbices; by the Chinese of one of the wild tribes of Kwei-chau; and was told to Wallace of some of the Aru Island tribes near New Guinea, and to Bickmore of a tribe on the south coast of Floris, called _Rakka_ (probably a form of Hindu _Rákshasa_, or ogre-goblin). Similar charges are made against sundry tribes of the New World, from Brazil to Vancouver Island. Odoric tells precisely Marco’s story of a certain island called Dondin. And in “King Alisaunder,” the custom is related of a people of India, called most inappropriately _Orphani_:— “Another Folk woneth there beside; _Orphani_ he hatteth wide. When her eldrynges beth elde, And ne mowen hemselven welde Hy hem sleeth, and bidelve And,” etc., etc. —_Weber_, I. p. 206. Benedetto Bordone, in his _Isolario_ (1521 and 1547), makes the same charge against the _Irish_, but I am glad to say that this seems only copied from Strabo. Such stories are still rife in the East, like those of men with tails. I have myself heard the tale told, nearly as Raffles tells it of the Battas, of some of the wild tribes adjoining Arakan. (_Balbi_, f. 130; _Raffles_, Mem. p. 427; _Wallace, Malay Archip._ 281; _Bickmore’s Travels_, p. 111; _Cathay_, pp. 25, 100). The latest and most authentic statement of the kind refers to a small tribe called _Birhōrs_, existing in the wildest parts of Chota Nagpúr and Jashpúr, west of Bengal, and is given by an accomplished Indian ethnologist, Colonel Dalton. “They were wretched-looking objects ... assuring me that they had themselves given up the practice, they admitted that their fathers were in the habit of disposing of their dead in the manner indicated, viz., by feasting on the bodies; but they declared that they never shortened life to provide such feast, and shrunk with horror at the idea of any bodies but those of their own blood relations being served up at them!” (_J. A. S. B._ XXXIV. Pt. II. 18.) The same practice has been attributed recently, but only on hearsay, to a tribe of N. Guinea called _Tarungares_. The Battas now bury their dead, after keeping the body a considerable time. But the people of Nias and the Batu Islands, whom Junghuhn considers to be of common origin with the Battas, do not bury, but expose the bodies in coffins upon rocks by the sea. And the small and very peculiar people of the Paggi Islands expose their dead on bamboo platforms in the forest. It is quite probable that such customs existed in the north of Sumatra also; indeed they may still exist, for the interior seems unknown. We do hear of pagan hill-people inland from Pedir who make descents upon the coast. (_Junghuhn_ II. 140; _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal_, etc., 2nd year, No. 4; _Nouv. Ann. des. V._ XVIII.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] _Marsden_, 1st ed. p. 291. [2] _Veth’s Atchin_, 1873, p. 37. [3] It might be supposed that Varthema had stolen from Serano; but the book of the former was _published_ in 1510. [4] Castanheda speaks of Pacem as the best port of the land: “standing on the bank of a river on marshy ground about a league inland; and at the mouth of the river there are some houses of timber where a customs collector was stationed to exact duties at the anchorage from the ships which touched there.” (Bk. II. ch. iii.) This agrees with Ibn Batuta’s account of Sumatra, 4 miles from its port. [A village named _Samudra_ discovered in our days near Pasei is perhaps a remnant of the kingdom of Samara. (_Merveilles de l’Inde_, p. 234.)—H. C.] [5] If Mr. Phillips had given particulars about his map and quotations, as to date, author, etc., it would have given them more value. He leaves this vague. CHAPTER XI. OF THE KINGDOMS OF LAMBRI AND FANSUR. When you leave that kingdom you come to another which is called LAMBRI. {1} The people are Idolaters, and call themselves the subjects of the Great Kaan. They have plenty of Camphor and of all sorts of other spices. They also have brazil in great quantities. This they sow, and when it is grown to the size of a small shoot they take it up and transplant it; then they let it grow for three years, after which they tear it up by the root. You must know that Messer Marco Polo aforesaid brought some seed of the brazil, such as they sow, to Venice with him, and had it sown there; but never a thing came up. And I fancy it was because the climate was too cold. Now you must know that in this kingdom of Lambri there are men with tails; these tails are of a palm in length, and have no hair on them. These people live in the mountains and are a kind of wild men. Their tails are about the thickness of a dog’s.{2} There are also plenty of unicorns in that country, and abundance of game in birds and beasts. Now then I have told you about the kingdom of Lambri. You then come to another kingdom which is called FANSUR. The people are Idolaters, and also call themselves subjects of the Great Kaan; and understand, they are still on the same Island that I have been telling you of. In this kingdom of Fansur grows the best Camphor in the world called _Canfora Fansuri_. It is so fine that it sells for its weight in fine gold.{3} The people have no wheat, but have rice which they eat with milk and flesh. They also have wine from trees such as I told you of. And I will tell you another great marvel. They have a kind of trees that produce flour, and excellent flour it is for food. These trees are very tall and thick, but have a very thin bark, and inside the bark they are crammed with flour. And I tell you that Messer Marco Polo, who witnessed all this, related how he and his party did sundry times partake of this flour made into bread, and found it excellent.{4} There is now no more to relate. For out of those eight kingdoms we have told you about six that lie at this side of the Island. I shall tell you nothing about the other two kingdoms that are at the other side of the Island, for the said Messer Marco Polo never was there. Howbeit we have told you about the greater part of this Island of the Lesser Java: so now we will quit it, and I will tell you of a very small Island that is called GAUENISPOLA.{5} NOTE 1.—The name of Lambri is not now traceable on our maps, nor on any list of the ports of Sumatra that I have met with; but in old times the name occurs frequently under one form or another, and its position can be assigned generally to the north part of the west coast, commencing from the neighbourhood of Achin Head. De Barros, detailing the twenty-nine kingdoms which divided the coast of Sumatra, at the beginning of the Portuguese conquests, begins with _Daya_, and then passes round by the north. He names as next in order LAMBRIJ, and then _Achem_. This would make Lambri lie between Daya and Achin, for which there is but little room. And there is an apparent inconsistency; for in coming round again from the south, his 28th kingdom is _Quinchel_ (_Singkel_ of our modern maps), the 29th _Mancopa_, “which _falls upon Lambrij_, which adjoins Daya, the first that we named.” Most of the data about Lambri render it very difficult to distinguish it from Achin. The name of Lambri occurs in the Malay Chronicle, in the account of the first Mahomedan mission to convert the Island. We shall quote the passage in a following note. The position of Lambri would render it one of the first points of Sumatra made by navigators from Arabia and India; and this seems at one time to have caused the name to be applied to the whole Island. Thus Rashiduddin speaks of the very large Island LÁMÚRI lying beyond Ceylon, and adjoining the country of _Sumatra_; Odoric also goes from India across the Ocean to a certain country called LAMORI, where he began to lose sight of the North Star. He also speaks of the camphor, gold, and lign-aloes which it produced, and proceeds thence to _Sumoltra_ in the same Island.[1] It is probable that the _verzino_ or brazil-wood of _Ameri_ (L’Ameri, _i.e._ Lambri?) which appears in the mercantile details of Pegolotti was from this part of Sumatra. It is probable also that the country called _Nanwuli_, which the Chinese Annals report, with _Sumuntula_ and others, to have sent tribute to the Great Kaan in 1286, was this same Lambri which Polo tells us called itself subject to the Kaan. In the time of the Sung Dynasty ships from T’swan-chau (or Zayton) bound for _Tashi_, or Arabia, used to sail in forty days to a place called _Lanli-poï_ (probably this is also Lambri, _Lambri-puri?_). There they passed the winter, _i.e._ the south-west monsoon, just as Marco Polo’s party did at Sumatra, and sailing again when the wind became fair, they reached Arabia in sixty days. (_Bretschneider_, p. 16.) [The theory of Sir H. Yule is confirmed by Chinese authors quoted by Mr. Groeneveldt (_Notes on the Malay Archipelago_, pp. 98–100): “The country of Lambri is situated due west of Sumatra, at a distance of three days sailing with a fair wind; it lies near the sea and has a population of only about a thousand families.... On the east the country is bordered by Litai, on the west and the north by the sea, and on the south by high mountains, at the south of which is the sea again.... At the north-west of this country, in the sea, at a distance of half a day, is a flat mountain, called the Hat-island; the sea at the west of it is the great ocean, and is called the Ocean of Lambri. Ships coming from the west all take this island as a landmark.” Mr. Groeneveldt adds: “Lambri [according to his extracts from Chinese authors] must have been situated on the north-western corner of the island of Sumatra, on or near the spot of the present Achin: we see that it was bounded by the sea on the north and the west, and that the Indian Ocean was called after this insignificant place, because it was considered to begin there. Moreover, the small island at half a day’s distance, called Hat-island, perfectly agrees with the small islands Bras or Nasi, lying off Achin, and of which the former, with its newly-erected lighthouse, is a landmark for modern navigation, just what it is said in our text to have been for the natives then. We venture to think that the much discussed situation of Marco Polo’s Lambri is definitely settled herewith.” The Chinese author writes: “The mountains [of Lambri] produce the fragrant wood called _Hsiang-chên Hsiang_.” Mr. Groeneveldt remarks (_l.c._ p. 143) that this “is the name of a fragrant wood, much used as incense, but which we have not been able to determine. Dr. Williams says it comes from Sumatra, where it is called laka-wood, and is the product of a tree to which the name of _Tanarius major_ is given by him. For different reasons, we think this identification subject to doubt.” Captain M. J. C. Lucardie mentions a village called Lamreh, situated at Atjeh, near Tungkup, in the xxvi. Mukim, which might be a remnant of the country of Lâmeri. (_Merveilles de l’Inde_, p. 235.)—H. C.] (_De Barros_, Dec. III. Bk. V. ch. i.; _Elliot_, I. 70; _Cathay_, 84, _seqq._; _Pegol._ p. 361; _Pauthier_, p. 605.) NOTE 2.—Stories of tailed or hairy men are common in the Archipelago, as in many other regions. Kazwini tells of the hairy little men that are found in Rámni (Sumatra) with a language like birds’ chirping. Marsden was told of hairy people called _Orang Gugu_ in the interior of the Island, who differed little, except in the use of speech, from the Orang utang. Since his time a French writer, giving the same name and same description, declares that he saw “a group” of these hairy people on the coast of Andragiri, and was told by them that they inhabited the interior of Menangkabau and formed a small tribe. It is rather remarkable that this writer makes no allusion to Marsden though his account is so nearly identical (_L’Océanie_ in _L’Univers Pittoresque_, I. 24.) [One of the stories of the _Merveilles de l’Inde_ (p. 125) is that there are anthropophagi with tails at Lulu bilenk between Fansur and Lâmeri.—H. C.] Mr. Anderson says there are “a few wild people in the Siak country, very little removed in point of civilisation above their companions the monkeys,” but he says nothing of hairiness nor tails. For the earliest version of the tail story we must go back to Ptolemy and the Isles of the Satyrs in this quarter; or rather to Ctesias who tells of tailed men on an Island in the Indian Sea. Jordanus also has the story of the hairy men. Galvano heard that there were on the Island certain people called _Daraque Dara_ (?), which had tails like unto sheep. And the King of Tidore told him of another such tribe on the Isle of Batochina. Mr. St. John in Borneo met with a trader who had seen and _felt_ the tails of such a race inhabiting the north-east coast of that Island. The appendage was 4 inches long and very stiff; so the people all used perforated seats. This Borneo story has lately been brought forward in Calcutta, and stoutly maintained, on native evidence, by an English merchant. The Chinese also have their tailed men in the mountains above Canton. In Africa there have been many such stories, of some of which an account will be found in the _Bulletin de la Soc. de Géog._ sér. IV. tom. iii. p. 31. It was a story among mediæval Mahomedans that the members of the Imperial House of Trebizond were endowed with short tails, whilst mediæval Continentals had like stories about Englishmen, as Matthew Paris relates. Thus we find in the Romance of Cœur de Lion, Richard’s messengers addressed by the “Emperor of Cyprus”:— “Out, _Taylards_, of my palys! Now go, and say your _tayled_ King That I owe him nothing.” —_Weber_, II. 83. The Princes of Purbandar, in the Peninsula of Guzerat, claim descent from the monkey-god Hanumán, and allege in justification a spinal elongation which gets them the name of _Púncháriah_, “Taylards.” (_Ethé’s Kazwini_, p. 221; _Anderson_, p. 210; _St. John, Forests of the Far East_, I. 40; _Galvano_, Hak. Soc. 108, 120; _Gildemeister_, 194; _Allen’s Indian Mail_, July 28, 1869; _Mid. Kingd._ I. 293; _N. et Ext._ XIII. i. 380; _Mat. Paris_ under A.D. 1250; _Tod’s Rajasthan_, I. 114.) NOTE 3.—The Camphor called _Fansúrí_ is celebrated by Arab writers at least as old as the 9th century, _e.g._, by the author of the first part of the _Relations_, by Mas’udi in the next century, also by Avicenna, by Abulfeda, by Kazwini, and by Abu’l Fazl, etc. In the second and third the name is miswritten _Ḳansúr_, and by the last _Ḳaisúri_, but there can be no doubt of the correction required. (_Reinaud_, I. 7; _Mas._ I. 338; _Liber Canonis_, Ven. 1544, I. 116; _Büsching_, IV. 277; _Gildem._ p. 209; _Ain-i-Akb._ p. 78.) In Serapion we find the same camphor described as that of _Pansor_; and when, leaving Arab authorities and the earlier Middle Ages we come to Garcias, he speaks of the same article under the name of camphor of _Barros_. And this is the name—_Kápúr Bárús_—derived from the port which has been the chief shipping-place of Sumatran camphor for _at least_ three centuries, by which the native camphor is still known in Eastern trade, as distinguished from the _Kápúr Chíná_ or _Kápúr-Japún_, as the Malays term the article derived in those countries by distillation from the _Laurus Camphora_. The earliest western mention of camphor is in the same prescription by the physician Aëtius (_circa_ A.D. 540) that contains one of the earliest mentions of musk. (_Supra_, I. p. 279.) The prescription ends: “and _if you have a supply of camphor_ add two ounces of that.” (_Aetii Medici Graeci Tetrabiblos_, etc., Froben, 1549, p. 910.) It is highly probable that _Fansúr_ and _Barús_ may be not only the same locality but mere variations of the same name.[2] The place is called in the _Shijarat Malayu_, _Pasuri_, a name which the Arabs certainly made into _Fansúri_ in one direction, and which might easily in another, by a very common kind of Oriental metathesis, pass into _Barúsi_. The legend in the Shijarat Malayu relates to the first Mahomedan mission for the conversion of Sumatra, sent by the Sherif of Mecca _viâ_ India. After sailing from Malabar the first place the party arrived at was PASURI, the people of which embraced Islam. They then proceeded to LAMBRI, which also accepted the Faith. Then they sailed on till they reached _Haru_ (see on my map _Aru_ on the East Coast), which did likewise. At this last place they enquired for SAMUDRA, which seems to have been the special object of their mission, and found that they had passed it. Accordingly they retraced their course to PERLAK, and after converting that place went on to SAMUDRA, where they converted Mara Silu the King. (See note 1, ch. x. above.) This passage is of extreme interest as naming _four_ out of Marco’s six kingdoms, and in positions quite accordant with his indications. As noticed by Mr. Braddell, from whose abstract I take the passage, the circumstance of the party having passed Samudra unwittingly is especially consistent with the site we have assigned to it near the head of the Bay of Pasei, as a glance at the map will show. Valentyn observes: “_Fansur_ can be nought else than the famous _Pantsur_, no longer known indeed by that name, but a kingdom which we become acquainted with through _Hamza Pantsuri_, a celebrated Poet, and native of this Pantsur. It lay in the north angle of the Island, and a little west of Achin: it formerly was rife with trade and population, but would have been utterly lost in oblivion had not Hamza Pantsuri made us again acquainted with it.” Nothing indeed could well be “a little west of Achin”; this is doubtless a slip for “a little down the west coast from Achin.” Hamza Fantsuri, as he is termed by Professor Veth, who also identifies Fantsur with Bárús, was a poet of the first half of the 17th century, who in his verses popularised the mystical theology of Shamsuddin Shamatrani (_supra_, p. 291), strongly tinged with pantheism. The works of both were solemnly burnt before the great mosque of Achin about 1640. (_J. Ind. Arch._ V. 312 _seqq._; _Valentyn_, Sumatra, in Vol. V., p. 21; _Veth, Atchin_, Leiden, 1873, p. 38.) Mas’udi says that the Fansur Camphor was found most plentifully in years rife with storms and earthquakes. Ibn Batuta gives a jumbled and highly incorrect account of the product, but one circumstance that he mentions is possibly founded on a real superstition, viz., that no camphor was formed unless some animal had been sacrificed at the root of the tree, and the best quality only then when a human victim had been offered. Nicolo Conti has a similar statement: “The Camphor is found inside the tree, and if they do not sacrifice to the gods before they cut the bark, it disappears and is no more seen.” Beccari, in our day, mentions special ceremonies used by the Kayans of Borneo, before they commence the search. These superstitions hinge on the great uncertainty of finding camphor in any given tree, after the laborious process of cutting it down and splitting it, an uncertainty which also largely accounts for the high price. By far the best of the old accounts of the product is that quoted by Kazwini from Mahomed Ben Zakaria Al-Rázi: “Among the number of marvellous things in this Island” (_Zánij_ for Zábaj, _i.e._ Java or Sumatra) “is the Camphor Tree, which is of vast size, insomuch that its shade will cover a hundred persons and more. They bore into the highest part of the tree and thence flows out the camphor-water, enough to fill many pitchers. Then they open the tree lower down about the middle, and extract the camphor in lumps.” [This very account is to be found in Ibn Khordâdhbeh. (_De Goeje’s transl._ p. 45.)—H. C.] Compare this passage, which we may notice has been borrowed bodily by Sindbad of the Sea, with what is probably the best modern account, Junghuhn’s: “Among the forest trees (of Tapanuli adjoining Barus) the Camphor Tree (_Dryabalanops Camphora_) attracts beyond all the traveller’s observation, by its straight columnar and colossal grey trunk, and its mighty crown of foliage, rising high above the canopy of the forest. It exceeds in dimensions the _Rasamala_,[3] the loftiest tree of Java, and is probably the greatest tree of the Archipelago, if not of the world,[4] reaching a height of 200 feet. One of the middling size which I had cut down measured at the base, where the camphor leaks out, 7½ Paris feet in diameter (about 8 feet English); its trunk rose to 100 feet, with an upper diameter of 5 feet, before dividing, and the height of the whole tree to the crown was 150 feet. The precious consolidated camphor is found in small quantities, ¼ lb. to 1 lb. in a single tree, in fissure-like hollows in the stem. Yet many are cut down in vain, or split up the side without finding camphor. The camphor oil is prepared by the natives by bruising and boiling the twigs.” The oil, however, appears also to be found in the tree, as Crawford and Collingwood mention, corroborating the ancient Arab. It is well known that the Chinese attach an extravagantly superior value to the Malay camphor, and probably its value in Marco’s day was higher than it is now, but still its estimate as worth its weight in gold looks like hyperbole. Forrest, a century ago, says Barus Camphor was in the Chinese market worth nearly its weight in _silver_, and this is true still. The price is commonly estimated at 100 times that of the Chinese camphor. The whole quantity exported from the Barus territory goes to China. De Vriese reckons the average annual export from Sumatra between 1839 and 1844 at less than 400 kilogrammes. The following table shows the wholesale rates in the Chinese market as given by Rondot in 1848:— _Qualities of Camphor_. _Per picul of 133⅓ lbs._ Ordinary China, 1st quality 20 dollars. „ „ 2nd „ 14 „ Formosa 25 „ Japan 30 „ China _ngai_ (ext. from an Artemisia) 250 „ Barus, 1st quality 2000 „ „ 2nd „ 1000 „ The Chinese call the Sumatran (or Borneo) Camphor _Ping-pien_ “Icicle flakes,” and _Lung-nau_ “Dragon’s Brains.” [Regarding Baros Camphor, Mr. Groeneveldt writes (_Notes_, p. 142): “This substance is generally called _dragon’s brain perfume_, or _icicles_. The former name has probably been invented by the first dealers in the article, who wanted to impress their countrymen with a great idea of its value and rarity. In the trade three different qualities are distinguished: the first is called _prune-blossoms_, being the larger pieces; the second is _rice-camphor_, so called because the particles are not larger than a rice-kernel, and the last quality is _golden dregs_, in the shape of powder. These names are still now used by the Chinese traders on the west coast of Sumatra. The _Pên-ts’au Kang-mu_ further informs us that the Camphor Baros is found in the trunk of a tree in a solid shape, whilst from the roots an oil is obtained called _Po-lut_ (Pa-lut) _incense_, or _Polut balm_. The name of Polut is said to be derived from the country where it is found (Baros.)”—H. C.] It is just to remark, however, that in the _Aín Akbari_ we find the price of the Sumatran Camphor, known to the Hindus as _Bhím Seni_, varying from 3 rupees as high as 2 mohurs (or 20 rupees) for a rupee’s weight, which latter price would be _twice_ the weight in gold. Abu’l Fazl says the worst camphor went by the name of _Bálús_. I should suspect some mistake, as we know from Garcias that the fine camphor was already known as _Barus_. (_Ain-i-Akb._ 75–79.) (_Mas’udi_, I. 338; _I. B._ IV. 241; _J. A._ sér. IV. tom. viii. 216; _Lane’s Arab. Nights_ (1859), III. 21; _Battaländer_, I. 107; _Crawf. Hist._ III. 218, and _Desc. Dict._ 81; _Hedde et Rondot, Com. de la Chine_, 36–37; _Chin. Comm. Guide; Dr. F. A. Flückiger, Zur Geschichte des Camphers_, in _Schweiz. Wochenschr. für Pharmacie_, Sept., Oct., 1867.) NOTE 4.—An interesting notice of the Sago-tree, of which Odoric also gives an account. Ramusio is, however, here fuller and more accurate: “Removing the first bark, which is but thin, you come on the wood of the tree which forms a thickness all round of some three fingers, but all inside this is a pith of flour, like that of the _Carvolo_ (?). The trees are so big that it will take two men to span them. They put this flour into tubs of water, and beat it up with a stick, and then the bran and other impurities come to the top, whilst the pure flour sinks to the bottom. The water is then thrown away, and the cleaned flour that remains is taken and made into _pasta_ in strips and other forms. These Messer Marco often partook of, and brought some with him to Venice. It resembles barley bread and tastes much the same. The wood of this tree is like iron, for if thrown into the water it goes straight to the bottom. It can be split straight from end to end like a cane. When the flour has been removed the wood remains, as has been said, three inches thick. Of this the people make short lances, not long ones, because they are so heavy that no one could carry or handle them if long. One end is sharpened and charred in the fire, and when thus prepared they will pierce any armour, and much better than iron would do.” Marsden points out that this heavy lance-wood is not that of the true Sago-palm, but of the _Nibong_ or Caryota urens; which does indeed give some amount of sago. [“When sago is to be made, a full-grown tree is selected just before it is going to flower. It is cut down close to the ground, the leaves and leaf-stalks cleared away, and a broad strip of the bark taken off the upper side of the trunk. This exposes the pithy matter, which is of a rusty colour near the bottom of the tree, but higher up pure white, about as hard as a dry apple, but with woody fibres running through it about a quarter of an inch apart. This pith is cut or broken down into a coarse powder, by means of a tool constructed for the purpose.... Water is poured on the mass of pith, which is kneaded and pressed against the strainer till the starch is all dissolved and has passed through, when the fibrous refuse is thrown away, and a fresh basketful put in its place. The water charged with sago starch passes on to a trough, with a depression in the centre, where the sediment is deposited, the surplus water trickling off by a shallow outlet. When the trough is nearly full, the mass of starch, which has a slight reddish tinge, is made into cylinders of about thirty pounds’ weight, and neatly covered with sago leaves, and in this state is sold as raw sago. Boiled with water this forms a thick glutinous mass, with a rather astringent taste, and is eaten with salt, limes, and chilies. Sago-bread is made in large quantities, by baking it into cakes in a small clay oven containing six or eight slits side by side, each about three-quarters of an inch wide, and six or eight inches square. The raw sago is broken up, dried in the sun, powdered, and finely sifted. The oven is heated over a clear fire of embers, and is lightly filled with the sago powder. The openings are then covered with a flat piece of sago bark, and in about five minutes the cakes are turned out sufficiently baked. The hot cakes are very nice with butter, and when made with the addition of a little sugar and grated cocoa-nut are quite a delicacy. They are soft, and something like corn-flour cakes, but have a slight characteristic flavour which is lost in the refined sago we use in this country. When not wanted for immediate use, they are dried for several days in the sun, and tied up in bundles of twenty. They will then keep for years; they are very hard, and very rough and dry....” (_A. R. Wallace’s Malay Archipelago_, 1869, II. pp. 118–121.)—H. C.] NOTE 5.—In quitting the subject of these Sumatran Kingdoms it may appear to some readers that our explanations compress them too much, especially as Polo seems to allow only two kingdoms for the rest of the Island. In this he was doubtless wrong, and we may the less scruple to say so as he had _not_ visited that other portion of the Island. We may note that in the space to which we assign the _six_ kingdoms which Polo visited, De Barros assigns _twelve_, viz.: Bara (corresponding generally to _Ferlec_), Pacem (_Basma_), Pirada, Lide, Pedir, Biar, Achin, _Lambri_, Daya, Mancopa, Quinchel, Barros (_Fansur_). (_Dec._ III. v. 1.) [Regarding these Sumatrian kingdoms, Mr. Thomson (_Proc. R. G. S._ XX. p. 223) writes that Malaiur “is no other than Singapore ... the ancient capital of the Malays or Malaiurs of old voyagers, existent in the times of Marco Polo [who] mentions no kingdom or city in Java Minor till he arrives at the kingdom of Felech or Perlak. And this is just as might be expected, as the channel in the Straits of Malacca leads on the north-eastern side out of sight of Sumatra; and the course, after clearing the shoals near Selangore, being direct towards Diamond Point, near which ... the tower of Perlak is situated. Thus we see that the Venetian traveller describes the first city or kingdom in the great island that he arrived at.... [After Basman and Samara] Polo mentions Dragoian ... from the context, and following Marco Polo’s course, we would place it west from his last city or Kingdom Samara; and we make no doubt, if the name is not much corrupted, it may yet be identified in one of the villages of the coast at this present time.... By the Malay annalist, Lambri was west of Samara; consecutively it was also westerly from Samara by Marco Polo’s enumeration. Fanfur ... is the last kingdom named by Marco Polo [coming from the east], and the first by the Malay annalist [coming from the west]; and as it is known to modern geographers, this corroboration doubly settles the identity and position of all. Thus all the six cities or kingdoms mentioned by Marco Polo were situated on the north coast of Sumatra, now commonly known as the Pedir coast.” I have given the conclusion arrived at by Mr. J. T. Thomson in his paper, _Marco Polo’s Six Kingdoms or Cities in Java Minor, identified in translations from the ancient Malay Annals_, which appeared in the _Proc. R. G. S._ XX. pp. 215–224, after the second edition of this Book was published and Sir H. Yule added the following note (_Proc._, _l.c._, p. 224): “Mr. Thomson, as he mentions, has not seen my edition of _Marco Polo_, nor, apparently, a paper on the subject of these kingdoms by the late Mr. J. R. Logan, in his _Journal of the Indian Archipelago_, to which reference is made in the notes to _Marco Polo_. In the said paper and notes the quotations and conclusions of Mr. Thomson have been anticipated; and _Fansúr_ also, which he leaves undetermined, identified.”—H. C.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] I formerly supposed _Al-Ramni_, the oldest Arabic name of Sumatra, to be a corruption of Lambri; but this is more probably of Hindu origin. One of the _Dvípas_ of the ocean mentioned in the Puranas is called _Rámaṇíyaka_, “delightfulness.” (_Williams’s Skt. Dict._) [2] Van der Tuuk says positively, I find: “Fantsur was the ancient name of Bárus.” (_J. R. A. S._ n.s. II. 232.) [Professor Schlegel writes also (_Geog. Notes_, XVI. p. 9): “At all events, _Fansur_ or _Pantsur_ can be naught but Baros.”—H. C.] [3] _Liquidambar Altingiana_. [4] The Californian and Australian giants of 400 feet were not then known. CHAPTER XII. CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF NECUVERAN. When you leave the Island of Java (the less) and the kingdom of Lambri, you sail north about 150 miles, and then you come to two Islands, one of which is called NECUVERAN. In this Island they have no king nor chief, but live like beasts. And I tell you they go all naked, both men and women, and do not use the slightest covering of any kind. They are Idolaters. Their woods are all of noble and valuable kinds of trees; such as Red Sanders and Indian-nut and Cloves and Brazil and sundry other good spices.{1} There is nothing else worth relating; so we will go on, and I will tell you of an Island called Angamanain. NOTE 1.—The end of the last chapter and the commencement of this I have taken from the G. Text. There has been some confusion in the notes of the original dictation which that represents, and corrections have made it worse. Thus Pauthier’s text runs: “I will tell you of two small Islands, one called Gauenispola and the other Necouran,” and then: “You sail north about 150 miles and find two Islands, one called Necouran and the other Gauenispola.” Ramusio does not mention Gauenispola, but says in the former passage: “I will tell you of a small Island called Nocueran”—and then: “You find two islands, one called Nocueran and the other Angaman.” Knowing the position of Gauenispola there is no difficulty in seeing how the passage should be explained. Something has interrupted the dictation after the last chapter. Polo asks Rusticiano, “Where were we?” “Leaving the Great Island.” Polo forgets the “very small Island called Gauenispola,” and passes to the north, where he has to tell us of two islands, “one called Necuveran and the other Angamanain.” So, I do not doubt, the passage should run. Let us observe that his point of departure in sailing north to the Nicobar Islands was the _Kingdom of Lambri_. This seems to indicate that Lambri included Achin Head or came very near it, an indication which we shall presently see confirmed. As regards Gauenispola, of which he promised to tell us and forgot his promise, its name has disappeared from our modern maps, but it is easily traced in the maps of the 16th and 17th centuries, and in the books of navigators of that time. The latest in which I have observed it is the _Neptune Oriental_, Paris 1775, which calls it _Pulo Gommes_. The name is there applied to a small island off Achin Head, outside of which lie the somewhat larger Islands of Pulo Nankai (or Nási) and Pulo Bras, whilst Pulo Wai lies further east.[1] I imagine, however, that the name was by the older navigators applied to the larger Island of Pulo Bras, or to the whole group. Thus Alexander Hamilton, who calls it _Gomus_ and _Pulo Gomuis_, says that “from the Island of Gomus and Pulo Wey ... the southernmost of the Nicobars may be seen.” Dampier most precisely applies the name of Pulo Gomez to the larger island which modern charts call Pulo Bras. So also Beaulieu couples the islands of “_Gomispoda_ and Pulo Way” in front of the roadstead of Achin. De Barros mentions that Gaspar d’Acosta was lost on the Island of _Gomispola_. Linschoten, describing the course from Cochin to Malacca, says: “You take your course towards the small Isles of GOMESPOLA, which are in 6°, near the corner of Achin in the Island of Sumatra.” And the Turkish author of the _Mohit_, in speaking of the same navigation, says: “If you wish to reach Malacca, guard against seeing JÁMISFULAH (جامس فله), because the mountains of LÁMRI advance into the sea, and the flood is there very strong.” The editor has misunderstood the geography of this passage, which evidently means “Don’t go near enough to Achin Head to see even the islands in front of it.” And here we see again that Lambri is made to extend to Achin Head. The passage is illustrated by the report of the first English Voyage to the Indies. Their course was for the Nicobars, but “by the Master’s fault in not duly observing the South Star, they fell to the southward of them, _within sight of the Islands of Gomes Polo_.” (_Nept. Orient._ Charts 38 and 39, and pp. 126–127; _Hamilton_, II. 66 and Map; _Dampier_, ed. 1699, II. 122; _H. Gén. des Voyages_, XII. 310; _Linschoten_, Routier, p. 30; _De Barros_, Dec. III. liv. iii. cap. 3; _J. A. S. B._ VI. 807; _Astley_, I. 238.) The two islands (or rather groups of islands) _Necuveran_ and _Angamanain_ are the Nicobar and Andaman groups. A nearer trace of the form Necuveran, or _Necouran_ as it stands in some MSS., is perhaps preserved in _Nancouri_, the existing name of one of the islands. They are perhaps the _Nalo-kilo-chéu_ (_Narikela-dvipa_) or Coco-nut Islands of which Hiuen Tsang speaks as existing some thousand _li_ to the south of Ceylon. The men, he had heard, were but 3 feet high, and had the beaks of birds. They had no cultivation and lived on coco-nuts. The islands are also believed to be the _Lanja bálús_ or _Lankha bálús_ of the old Arab navigators: “These Islands support a numerous population. Both men and women go naked, only the women wear a girdle of the leaves of trees. When a ship passes near, the men come out in boats of various sizes and barter ambergris and coco-nuts for iron,” a description which has applied accurately for many centuries. [Ibn Khordâdhbeh says (_De Goeje’s transl._, p. 45) that the inhabitants of Nicobar (Alankabâlous), an island situated at ten or fifteen days from Serendib, are naked; they live on bananas, fresh fish, and coco-nuts; the precious metal is iron in their country; they frequent foreign merchants.—H. C.] Rashiduddin writes of them nearly in the same terms under the name of _Lákváram_, but read NÁKAVÁRAM opposite LAMURI. Odoric also has a chapter on the island of _Nicoveran_, but it is one full of fable. (_H. Tsang_, III. 114 and 517; _Relations_, p. 8; _Elliot_, I. p. 71; _Cathay_, p. 97.) [Mr. G. Phillips writes (_J. R. A. S._, July 1895, p. 529) that the name Tsui-lan given to the Nicobars by the Chinese is, he has but little doubt, “a corruption of Nocueran, the name given by Marco Polo to the group. The characters Tsui-lan are pronounced Ch’ui-lan in Amoy, out of which it is easy to make Cueran. The Chinese omitted the initial syllable and called them the Cueran Islands, while Marco Polo called them the Nocueran Islands.”—H. C.] [The Nicobar Islands “are generally known by the Chinese under the name of _Râkchas_ or Demons who devour men, from the belief that their inhabitants were anthropophagi. In A.D. 607, the Emperor of China, Yang-ti, had sent an envoy to Siam, who also reached the country of the Râkchas. According to _Tu-yen’s T’ung-tien_, the Nicobars lie east [west] of Poli. Its inhabitants are very ugly, having red hair, black bodies, teeth like beasts, and claws like hawks. Sometimes they traded with _Lin-yih_ (Champa), but then at night; in day-time they covered their faces.” (_G. Schlegel, Geog. Notes_, I. pp. 1–2.)—H. C.] Mr. Phillips, from his anonymous Chinese author, gives a quaint legend as to the nakedness of these islanders. Sakya Muni, having arrived from Ceylon, stopped at the islands to bathe. Whilst he was in the water the natives stole his clothes, upon which the Buddha cursed them; and they have never since been able to wear any clothing without suffering for it. [Professor Schlegel gives the same legend (_Geog. Notes_, I. p. 8) with reference to the _Andaman_ Islands from the _Sing-ch’a Shêng-lan_, published in 1436 by Fei-sin; Mr. Phillips seems to have made a confusion between the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. (_Doolittle’s Vocab._ II. p. 556; cf. _Schlegel_, _l.c._ p. 11.)—H. C.] The chief part of the population is believed to be of race akin to the Malay, but they seem to be of more than one race, and there is great variety in dialect. There have long been reports of a black tribe with woolly hair in the unknown interior of the Great Nicobar, and my friend Colonel H. Man, when Superintendent of our Andaman Settlements, received spontaneous corroboration of this from natives of the former island, who were on a visit to Port Blair. Since this has been in type I have seen in the _F. of India_ (28th July, 1874) notice of a valuable work by F. A. de Roepstorff on the dialects and manners of the Nicobarians. This notice speaks of an aboriginal race called _Shob’aengs_, “purely Mongolian,” but does not mention negritoes. The natives do not now go quite naked; the men wear a narrow cloth; and the women a grass girdle. They are very skilful in management of their canoes. Some years since there were frightful disclosures regarding the massacre of the crews of vessels touching at these islands, and this has led eventually to their occupation by the Indian Government. Trinkat and Nancouri are the islands which were guilty. A woman of Trinkat who could speak Malay was examined by Colonel Man, and she acknowledged having seen nineteen vessels scuttled, after their cargoes had been plundered and their crews massacred. “The natives who were captured at Trinkat,” says Colonel Man in another letter, “were a most savage-looking set, with remarkably long arms, and very projecting eye-teeth.” The islands have always been famous for the quality and abundance of their “Indian Nuts,” _i.e._ cocos. The tree of next importance to the natives is a kind of Pandanus, from the cooked fruit of which they express an edible substance called Melori, of which you may read in Dampier; they have the betel and areca; and they grow yams, but only for barter. As regards the other vegetation, mentioned by Polo, I will quote, what Colonel Man writes to me from the Andamans, which probably is in great measure applicable to the Nicobars also! “Our woods are very fine, and doubtless resemble those of the Nicobars. Sapan wood (_i.e._ Polo’s _Brazil_) is in abundance; coco-nuts, so numerous in the Nicobars, and to the north in the Cocos, are not found naturally with us, though they grow admirably when cultivated. There is said to be sandal-wood in our forests, and camphor, but I have not yet come across them. I do not believe in _cloves_, but we have lots of the wild nutmeg.”[2] The last, and cardamoms, are mentioned in the _Voyage of the Novara_, vol. ii., in which will be found a detail of the various European attempts to colonise the Nicobar Islands with other particulars. (See also _J. A. S. B._ XV. 344 _seqq._) [See _Schlegel’s Geog. Notes_, XVI., _The Old States in the Island of Sumatra._—H. C.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] It was a mistake to suppose the name had disappeared, for it is applied, in the form _Pulo Gaimr_, to the small island above indicated, in Colonel Versteeg’s map to Veth’s _Atchin_ (1873). In a map chiefly borrowed from that, in _Ocean Highways_, August, 1873, I have ventured to restore the name as _Pulo Gomus_. The name is perhaps (Mal.) _Gamás_, “hard, rough.” [2] Kurz’s _Vegetation of the Andaman Islands_ gives four _myristicae_ (nutmegs); but no sandal-wood nor camphor-laurel. Nor do I find sappan-wood, though there is another Caesalpinia (_C. Nuga_). CHAPTER XIII. CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF ANGAMANAIN. Angamanain is a very large Island. The people are without a king and are Idolaters, and no better than wild beasts. And I assure you all the men of this Island of Angamanain have heads like dogs, and teeth and eyes likewise; in fact, in the face they are all just like big mastiff dogs! They have a quantity of spices; but they are a most cruel generation, and eat everybody that they can catch, if not of their own race.{1} They live on flesh and rice and milk, and have fruits different from any of ours. Now that I have told you about this race of people, as indeed it was highly proper to do in this our book, I will go on to tell you about an Island called Seilan, as you shall hear. NOTE 1.—Here Marco speaks of the remarkable population of the Andaman Islands—Oriental negroes in the lowest state of barbarism—who have remained in their isolated and degraded condition, so near the shores of great civilised countries, for so many ages. “Rice and milk” they have not, and their fruits are only wild ones. [From the _Sing-ch’a Shêng-lan_ quoted by Professor Schlegel (_Geog. Notes_, I. p. 8) we learn that these islanders have neither “rice or corn, but only descend into the sea and catch fish and shrimps in their nets; they also plant Banians and Cocoa-trees for their food.”—H. C.] I imagine our traveller’s form _Angamanain_ to be an Arabic (oblique) dual—“The two ANDAMANS,” viz. The Great and The Little, the former being in truth a chain of three islands, but so close and nearly continuous as to form apparently one, and to be named as such. [Illustration: _A. Housselin d._ _Michelet sc._ The Borús. (From a Manuscript.)] [Professor Schlegel writes (_Geog. Notes._ I. p. 12): “This etymology is to be rejected because the old Chinese transcription gives _So_—(or _Sun_) _damân_.... The _Pien-i-tien_ (ch. 107, I. fol. 30) gives a description of Andaman, here called _An-to-man kwoh_, quoted from the _San-tsai Tu-hwui_.”—H. C.] The origin of the name seems to be unknown. The only person to my knowledge who has given a meaning to it is Nicolo Conti, who says it means “Island of Gold”; probably a mere sailor’s yarn. The name, however, is very old, and may perhaps be traced in Ptolemy; for he names an island of cannibals called that of _Good Fortune_, Ἀγαθοῦ δαίμονος. It seems probable enough that this was Ἀγδαιμόνος Νῆσος, or the like, “The Angdaman Island,” misunderstood. His next group of Islands is the _Barussae_, which seems again to be the Lankha _Bálús_ of the oldest Arab navigators, since these are certainly the Nicobars. [The name first appears distinctly in the Arab narratives of the 9th century. (_Yule, Hobson-Jobson_.)] The description of the natives of the Andaman Islands in the early Arab _Relations_ has been often quoted, but it is too like our traveller’s account to be omitted: “The inhabitants of these islands eat men alive. They are black with woolly hair, and in their eyes and countenance there is something quite frightful.... They go naked, and have no boats. If they had they would devour all who passed near them. Sometimes ships that are wind-bound, and have exhausted their provision of water, touch here and apply to the natives for it; in such cases the crew sometimes fall into the hands of the latter, and most of them are massacred” (p. 9). The traditional charge of cannibalism against these people used to be very persistent, though it is generally rejected since our settlement upon the group in 1858. Mr. Logan supposes the report was cherished by those who frequented the islands for edible birds’ nests, in order to keep the monopoly. Of their murdering the crews of wrecked vessels, like their Nicobar neighbours, I believe there is no doubt; and it has happened in our own day. Cesare Federici, in Ramusio, speaks of the terrible fate of crews wrecked on the Andamans; all such were killed and eaten by the natives, who refused all intercourse with strangers. A. Hamilton mentions a friend of his who was wrecked on the islands; nothing more was ever heard of the ship’s company, “which gave ground to conjecture that they were all devoured by those savage cannibals.” [Illustration: The Cynocephali. (From the _Livre des Merveilles_.)] They do not, in modern times, I believe, in their canoes, quit their own immediate coast, but Hamilton says they used, in his time, to come on forays to the Nicobar Islands; and a paper in the _Asiatic Researches_ mentions a tradition to the same effect as existing on the Car Nicobar. They have retained all the aversion to intercourse anciently ascribed to them, and they still go naked as of old, the utmost exception being a leaf-apron worn by the women near the British Settlement. The Dog-head feature is at least as old as Ctesias. The story originated, I imagine, in the disgust with which “allophylian” types of countenance are regarded, kindred to the feeling which makes the Hindus and other eastern nations represent the aborigines whom they superseded as demons. The Cubans described the Caribs to Columbus as man-eaters with dogs’ muzzles; and the old Danes had tales of Cynocephali in Finland. A curious passage from the Arab geographer Ibn Said pays an ambiguous compliment to the forefathers of Moltke and Von Roon: “The _Borús_ (Prussians) are a miserable people, and still more savage than the Russians.... One reads in some books _that the_ Borús _have dogs’ faces; it is a way of saying that they are very brave_.” Ibn Batuta describes an Indo-Chinese tribe on the coast of Arakan or Pegu as having dogs’ mouths, but says the _women_ were beautiful. Friar Jordanus had heard the same of the dog-headed islanders. And one odd form of the story, found, strange to say, both in China and diffused over Ethiopia, represents the males as _actual_ dogs whilst the females are women. Oddly, too, Père Barbe tells us that a tradition of the Nicobar people themselves represent them as of canine descent, but on the female side! The like tale in early Portuguese days was told of the Peguans, viz. that they sprang from a dog and a Chinese woman. It is mentioned by Camoens (X. 122). Note, however, that in Colonel Man’s notice of the wilder part of the Nicobar people the projecting canine teeth are spoken of. Abraham Roger tells us that the Coromandel Brahmans used to say that the _Rákshasas_ or Demons had their abode “on the Island of Andaman lying on the route from Pulicat to Pegu,” and also that they were man-eaters. This would be very curious if it were a genuine old Brahmanical _Saga_; but I fear it may have been gathered from the Arab seamen. Still it is remarkable that a strange weird-looking island, a steep and regular volcanic cone, which rises covered with forest to a height of 2150 feet, straight out of the deep sea to the eastward of the Andaman group, bears the name _Narkandam_, in which one cannot but recognise नरक, _Narak_, “Hell”; perhaps _Naraka-kuṇḍam_, “a pit of hell.” Can it be that in old times, but still contemporary with Hindu navigation, this volcano was active, and that some Brahman St. Brandon recognised in it the mouth of Hell, congenial to the Rakshasas of the adjacent group? “Si est de saint Brandon le matère furnie; Qui fu si près d’enfer, à nef et à galie, Que déable d’enfer issirent, par maistrie, Getans brandons de feu, pour lui faire hasquie.” —_Bauduin de Sebourc_, I. 123. (_Ramusio_, III. 391; _Ham._ II. 65; _Navarrete_ (Fr. Ed.), II. 101; _Cathay_, 467; _Bullet. de la Soc. de Géog._ sér. IV. tom iii. 36–37; _J. A. S. B._ u.s.; _Reinaud’s Abulfeda_, I. 315; _J. Ind. Arch._, N.S., III. I. 105; _La Porte Ouverte_, p. 188.) [I shall refer to my edition of _Odoric_, 206–217, for a long notice on dog-headed barbarians; I reproduce here two of the cuts.—H. C.] CHAPTER XIV. CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF SEILAN. When you leave the Island of Angamanain and sail about a thousand miles in a direction a little south of west, you come to the Island of SEILAN,{1} which is in good sooth the best Island of its size in the world. You must know that it has a compass of 2400 miles, but in old times it was greater still, for it then had a circuit of about 3600 miles, as you find in the charts of the mariners of those seas. But the north wind there blows with such strength that it has caused the sea to submerge a large part of the Island; and that is the reason why it is not so big now as it used to be. For you must know that, on the side where the north wind strikes, the Island is very low and flat, insomuch that in approaching on board ship from the high seas you do not see the land till you are right upon it.{2} Now I will tell you all about this Island. [Illustration: MAP to Illustrate POLO’S Chapters on India. MAP to Illustrate POLO’S Chapters on the Malay Countries. _London, John Murray, Albemarle Street._] They have a king there whom they call SENDEMAIN, and are tributary to nobody.{3} The people are Idolaters, and go quite naked except that they cover the middle. They have no wheat, but have rice, and sesamum of which they make their oil. They live on flesh and milk, and have tree-wine such as I have told you of. And they have brazil-wood, much the best in the world.{4} Now I will quit these particulars, and tell you of the most precious article that exists in the world. You must know that rubies are found in this Island and in no other country in the world but this. They find there also sapphires and topazes and amethysts, and many other stones of price. And the King of this Island possesses a ruby which is the finest and biggest in the world; I will tell you what it is like. It is about a palm in length, and as thick as a man’s arm; to look at, it is the most resplendent object upon earth; it is quite free from flaw and as red as fire. Its value is so great that a price for it in money could hardly be named at all. You must know that the Great Kaan sent an embassy and begged the King as a favour greatly desired by him to sell him this ruby, offering to give for it the ransom of a city, or in fact what the King would. But the King replied that on no account whatever would he sell it, for it had come to him from his ancestors.{5} The people of Seilan are no soldiers, but poor cowardly creatures. And when they have need of soldiers they get Saracen troops from foreign parts. [NOTE 1.—Mr. Geo. Phillips gives (_Seaports of India_, p. 216 _et seqq._) the Star Chart used by Chinese Navigators on their return voyage from Ceylon to _Su-men-tâ-la_.—H. C.] NOTE 2.—Valentyn appears to be repeating a native tradition when he says: “In old times the island had, as they loosely say, a good 400 miles (_i.e._ Dutch, say 1600 miles) of compass, but at the north end the sea has from time to time carried away a large part of it.” (_Ceylon_, in vol. v., p. 18.) Curious particulars touching the exaggerated ideas of the ancients, inherited by the Arabs, as to the dimensions of Ceylon, will be found in _Tennent’s Ceylon_, ch. i. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang has the same tale. According to him, the circuit was 7000 _li_, or 1400 miles. We see from Marco’s curious notice of the old charts (G. T. “_selonc qe se treuve en la mapemondi des mariner de cel mer_”) that travellers had begun to find that the dimensions _were_ exaggerated. The real circuit is under 700 miles! On the ground that all the derivations of the name SAILAN or CEYLON from the old _Sinhala_, _Serendib_, and what not, seem forced, Van der Tuuk has suggested that the name may have been originally Javanese, being formed (he says) according to the rules of that language from _Sela_, “a precious stone,” so that _Pulo Selan_ would be the “Island of Gems.” [Professor Schlegel says (_Geog. Notes_, I. p. 19, note) that “it seems better to think of the Sanskrit _šila_, ‘a stone or rock,’ or _šaila_, ‘a mountain,’ which agree with the Chinese interpretation.”—H. C.] The Island was really called anciently _Ratnadvīpa_, “the Island of Gems” (_Mém. de H. T._, II. 125, and _Harivansa_, I. 403); and it is termed by an Arab Historian of the 9th century _Jazírat al Yáḳút_, “The Isle of Rubies.” [The (Chinese) characters _ya-ku-pao-shih_ are in some accounts of Ceylon used to express _Yáḳút_. (_Ma-Huan, transl. by Phillips_, p. 213.)—H. C.] As a matter of fact, we derive originally from the Malays nearly all the forms we have adopted for names of countries reached by sea to the _east_ of the Bay of Bengal, _e.g._ _Awa_, _Barma_, _Paigu_, _Siyam_, _China_, _Japún_, _Kochi_ (Cochin China), _Champa_, _Kamboja_, _Malúka_ (properly a place in the Island of Ceram), _Súlúk_, _Burnei_, _Tanasari_, _Martavan_, etc. That accidents in the history of marine affairs in those seas should have led to the adoption of the Malay and Javanese names in the case of Ceylon also is at least conceivable. But Dr. Caldwell has pointed out to me that the Páli form of Sinhala was _Sihalan_, and that this must have been colloquially shortened to _Sîlan_, for it appears in old Tamul inscriptions as _Ilam_.[1] Hence there is nothing really strained in the derivation of _Sailán_ from Sinhala. Tennent (_Ceylon_, I. 549) and Crawford (_Malay Dict._ p. 171) ascribe the name Selan, Zeilan, to the Portuguese, but this is quite unfounded, as our author sufficiently testifies. The name _Sailán_ also occurs in Rashiduddin, in Hayton, and in Jordanus (see next note). (See _Van der Tuuk_, work quoted above (p. 287), p. 118; _J. As._ sér. IV., tom. viii. 145; _J. Ind. Arch._ IV. 187; _Elliot_, I. 70.) [_Sinhala_ or _Sihala_, “lions’ abode,” with the addition of “Island,” _Sihala-dvīpa_, comes down to us in Cosmas Σιελεδίβα (_Hobson-Jobson_).] NOTE 3.—The native king at this time was Pandita Prakrama Bahu III., who reigned from 1267 to 1301 at Dambadenia, about 40 miles north-north-east of Columbo. But the Tamuls of the continent had recently been in possession of the whole northern half of the island. The Singhalese Chronicle represents Prakrama to have recovered it from them, but they are so soon again found in full force that the completeness of this recovery may be doubted. There were also two invasions of Malays (_Javaku_) during this reign, under the lead of a chief called _Chandra Banu_. On the second occasion this invader was joined by a large Tamul reinforcement. Sir E. Tennent suggests that this Chandra Banu may be Polo’s _Sende-main_ or _Sendernaz_, as Ramusio has it. Or he may have been the Tamul chief in the north; the first part of the name may have been either _Chandra_ or _Sundara_. NOTE 4.—Kazwini names the brazil, or sapan-wood of Ceylon. Ibn Batuta speaks of its abundance (IV. 166); and Ribeyro does the like (ed. of Columbo, 1847, p. 16); see also _Ritter_, VI. 39, 122; and _Trans. R. A. S._ I. 539. Sir E. Tennent has observed that Ibn Batuta is the first to speak of the Ceylon cinnamon. It is, however, mentioned by Kazwini (_circa_ A.D. 1275), and in a letter written from Mabar by John of Montecorvino about the very time that Marco was in these seas. (See _Ethé’s Kazwini_, 229, and _Cathay_, 213.) [Mr. G. Phillips, in the _Jour. China B. R. A. Soc._, XX. 1885, pp. 209–226; XXI. 1886, pp. 30–42, has given, under the title of _The Seaports of India and Ceylon_, a translation of some parts of the _Ying-yai-shĕng-lan_, a work of a Chinese Mahomedan, Ma-Huan, who was attached to the suite of Chêng-Ho, an envoy of the Emperor Yong-Lo (A.D. 1403–1425) to foreign countries. Mr. Phillips’s translation is a continuation of the _Notes_ of Mr. W. P. Groeneveldt, who leaves us at Lambri, on the coast of Sumatra. Ma-Huan takes us to the _Ts’ui-lan_ Islands (Nicobars) and to _Hsi-lan-kuo_ (Ceylon), whose “people,” he says (p. 214), “are abundantly supplied with all the necessaries of life. They go about naked, except that they wear a green handkerchief round their loins, fastened with a waist-band. Their bodies are clean-shaven, and only the hair of their heads is left.... They take no meal without butter and milk, if they have none and wish to eat, they do so unobserved and in private. The betel-nut is never out of their mouths. They have no wheat, but have rice, sesamum, and peas. The cocoa-nut, which they have in abundance, supplies them with oil, wine, sugar, and food.” Ma-Huan arrived at Ceylon at Pieh-lo-li, on the 6th of the 11th moon (seventh year, Süan Têh, end of 1432). Cf. _Sylvain Lévi, Ceylan et la Chine, J. As._, Mai-juin, 1900, p. 411 _seqq._ Odoric and the Adjaîb do not mention cinnamon among the products of Ceylon; this omission was one of the arguments of Dr. Schumann (_Ergänz._ No. 73 zu _Petermann’s Mitt._, 1883, p. 46) against the authenticity of the Adjaîb. These arguments have been refuted in the _Livre des Merveilles de l’Inde_, p. 265 _seqq._ Nicolo Conti, speaking of the “very noble island called Zeilan,” says (p. 7): “Here also cinnamon grows in great abundance. It is a tree which very much resembles our thick willows, excepting that the branches do not grow upwards, but are spread out horizontally: the leaves are very like those of the laurel, but are somewhat larger. The bark of the branches is the thinnest and best, that of the trunk of the tree is thicker and inferior in flavour. The fruit resembles the berries of the laurel; an odoriferous oil is extracted from it adapted for ointments, which are much used by the Indians. When the bark is stripped off, the wood is used for fuel.”—H. C.] NOTE 5.—There seems to have been always afloat among Indian travellers, at least from the time of Cosmas (6th century), some wonderful story about the ruby or rubies of the king of Ceylon. With Cosmas, and with the Chinese Hiuen Tsang, in the following century, this precious object is fixed on the top of a pagoda, “a hyacinth, they say, of great size and brilliant ruddy colour, as big as a great pine-cone; and when ’tis seen from a distance flashing, especially if the sun’s rays strike upon it, ’tis a glorious and incomparable spectacle.” Our author’s contemporary, Hayton, had heard of the great ruby: “The king of that Island of Celan hath the largest and finest ruby in existence. When his coronation takes place this ruby is placed in his hand, and he goes round the city on horseback holding it in his hand, and thenceforth all recognise and obey him as their king.” Odoric too speaks of the great ruby and the Kaan’s endeavours to get it, though by some error the circumstance is referred to Nicoveran instead of Ceylon. Ibn Batuta saw in the possession of Arya Chakravarti, a Tamul chief ruling at Patlam, a ruby bowl as big as the palm of one’s hand. Friar Jordanus speaks of two great rubies belonging to the king of SYLEN, each so large that when grasped in the hand it projected a finger’s breadth at either side. The fame, at least, of these survived to the 16th century, for Andrea Corsali (1515) says: “They tell that the king of this island possesses two rubies of colour so brilliant and vivid that they look like a flame of fire.” Sir E. Tennent, on this subject, quotes from a Chinese work a statement that early in the 14th century the Emperor sent an officer to Ceylon to purchase a carbuncle of unusual lustre. This was fitted as a ball to the Emperor’s cap; it was upwards of an ounce in weight and cost 100,000 strings of cash. Every time a grand levee was held at night the red lustre filled the palace, and hence it was designated “The Red Palace-Illuminator.” (_I. B._ IV. 174–175; _Cathay_, p. clxxvii.; _Hayton_, ch. vi.; _Jord._ p. 30; _Ramus._ I. 180; _Ceylon_, I. 568). [“This mountain [Adam’s Peak] abounds with rubies of all kinds and other precious stones. These gems are being continually washed out of the ground by heavy rains, and are sought for and found in the sand carried down the hill by the torrents. It is currently reported among the people, that these precious stones are the congealed tears of Buddha.” (_Ma-Huan, transl. by Phillips_, p. 213.) In the Chinese work _Cho keng lu_, containing notes on different matters referring to the time of the Mongol Dynasty, in ch. vii. entitled _Hwui hwui shi t’ou_ (“Precious Stones of the Mohammedans”) among the four kinds of red stones is mentioned the _si-la-ni_ of a dark red colour; _si-la-ni_, as Dr. Bretschneider observes (_Med. Res._ I. p. 174), means probably “from Ceylon.” The name for ruby in China is now-a-days _hung pao shi_, “red precious stone.” (_Ibid._ p. 173.)—H. C.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] The old Tamul alphabet has no sibilant. CHAPTER XV. THE SAME CONTINUED. THE HISTORY OF SAGAMONI BORCAN AND THE BEGINNING OF IDOLATRY. Furthermore you must know that in the Island of Seilan there is an exceeding high mountain; it rises right up so steep and precipitous that no one could ascend it, were it not that they have taken and fixed to it several great and massive iron chains, so disposed that by help of these men are able to mount to the top. And I tell you they say that on this mountain is the sepulchre of Adam our first parent; at least that is what the Saracens say. But the Idolaters say that it is the sepulchre of SAGAMONI BORCAN, before whose time there were no idols. They hold him to have been the best of men, a great saint in fact, according to their fashion, and the first in whose name idols were made.{1} He was the son, as their story goes, of a great and wealthy king. And he was of such an holy temper that he would never listen to any worldly talk, nor would he consent to be king. And when the father saw that his son would not be king, nor yet take any part in affairs, he took it sorely to heart. And first he tried to tempt him with great promises, offering to crown him king, and to surrender all authority into his hands. The son, however, would none of his offers; so the father was in great trouble, and all the more that he had no other son but him, to whom he might bequeath the kingdom at his own death. So, after taking thought on the matter, the King caused a great palace to be built, and placed his son therein, and caused him to be waited on there by a number of maidens, the most beautiful that could anywhere be found. And he ordered them to divert themselves with the prince, night and day, and to sing and dance before him, so as to draw his heart towards worldly enjoyments. But ’twas all of no avail, for none of those maidens could ever tempt the king’s son to any wantonness, and he only abode the firmer in his chastity, leading a most holy life, after their manner thereof. And I assure you he was so staid a youth that he had never gone out of the palace, and thus he had never seen a dead man, nor any one who was not hale and sound; for the father never allowed any man that was aged or infirm to come into his presence. It came to pass however one day that the young gentleman took a ride, and by the roadside he beheld a dead man. The sight dismayed him greatly, as he never had seen such a sight before. Incontinently he demanded of those who were with him what thing that was? and then they told him it was a dead man. “How, then,” quoth the king’s son, “do all men die?” “Yea, forsooth,” said they. Whereupon the young gentleman said never a word, but rode on right pensively. And after he had ridden a good way he fell in with a very aged man who could no longer walk, and had not a tooth in his head, having lost all because of his great age. And when the king’s son beheld this old man he asked what that might mean, and wherefore the man could not walk? Those who were with him replied that it was through old age the man could walk no longer, and had lost all his teeth. And so when the king’s son had thus learned about the dead man and about the aged man, he turned back to his palace and said to himself that he would abide no longer in this evil world, but would go in search of Him Who dieth not, and Who had created him.{2} So what did he one night but take his departure from the palace privily, and betake himself to certain lofty and pathless mountains. And there he did abide, leading a life of great hardship and sanctity, and keeping great abstinence, just as if he had been a Christian. Indeed, an he had but been so, he would have been a great saint of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so good and pure was the life he led.{3} And when he died they found his body and brought it to his father. And when the father saw dead before him that son whom he loved better than himself, he was near going distraught with sorrow. And he caused an image in the similitude of his son to be wrought in gold and precious stones, and caused all his people to adore it. And they all declared him to be a god; and so they still say.{4} They tell moreover that he hath died fourscore and four times. The first time he died as a man, and came to life again as an ox; and then he died as an ox and came to life again as a horse, and so on until he had died fourscore and four times; and every time he became some kind of animal. But when he died the eighty-fourth time they say he became a god. And they do hold him for the greatest of all their gods. And they tell that the aforesaid image of him was the first idol that the Idolaters ever had; and from that have originated all the other idols. And this befel in the Island of Seilan in India. The Idolaters come thither on pilgrimage from very long distances and with great devotion, just as Christians go to the shrine of Messer Saint James in Gallicia. And they maintain that the monument on the mountain is that of the king’s son, according to the story I have been telling you; and that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish that are there were those of the same king’s son, whose name was Sagamoni Borcan, or Sagamoni the Saint. But the Saracens also come thither on pilgrimage in great numbers, and _they_ say that it is the sepulchre of Adam our first father, and that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish were those of Adam.{5} Whose they were in truth, God knoweth; howbeit, according to the Holy Scripture of our Church, the sepulchre of Adam is not in that part of the world. Now it befel that the Great Kaan heard how on that mountain there was the sepulchre of our first father Adam, and that some of his hair and of his teeth, and the dish from which he used to eat, were still preserved there. So he thought he would get hold of them somehow or another, and despatched a great embassy for the purpose, in the year of Christ, 1284. The ambassadors, with a great company, travelled on by sea and by land until they arrived at the island of Seilan, and presented themselves before the king. And they were so urgent with him that they succeeded in getting two of the grinder teeth, which were passing great and thick; and they also got some of the hair, and the dish from which that personage used to eat, which is of a very beautiful green porphyry. And when the Great Kaan’s ambassadors had attained the object for which they had come they were greatly rejoiced, and returned to their lord. And when they drew near to the great city of Cambaluc, where the Great Kaan was staying, they sent him word that they had brought back that for which he had sent them. On learning this the Great Kaan was passing glad, and ordered all the ecclesiastics and others to go forth to meet these reliques, which he was led to believe were those of Adam. And why should I make a long story of it? In sooth, the whole population of Cambaluc went forth to meet those reliques, and the ecclesiastics took them over and carried them to the Great Kaan, who received them with great joy and reverence.{6} And they find it written in their Scriptures that the virtue of that dish is such that if food for one man be put therein it shall become enough for five men: and the Great Kaan averred that he had proved the thing and found that it was really true.{7} So now you have heard how the Great Kaan came by those reliques; and a mighty great treasure it did cost him! The reliques being, according to the Idolaters, those of that king’s son. NOTE 1.—_Sagamoni Borcan_ is, as Marsden points out, SAKYA-MUNI, or Gautama-Buddha, with the affix BURKHAN, or “Divinity,” which is used by the Mongols as the synonym of _Buddha_. “The Dewa of Samantakúta (Adam’s Peak), Samana, having heard of the arrival of Budha (in Lanka or Ceylon) ... presented a request that he would leave an impression of his foot upon the mountain of which he was guardian.... In the midst of the assembled Dewas, Budha, looking towards the East, made the impression of his foot, in length three inches less than the cubit of the carpenter; and the impression remained as a seal to show that Lanka is the inheritance of Budha, and that his religion will here flourish.” (_Hardy’s Manual_, p. 212.) [Ma-Huan says (p. 212): “On landing (at Ceylon), there is to be seen on the shining rock at the base of the cliff, an impress of a foot two or more feet in length. The legend attached to it is, that it is the imprint of Shâkyamuni’s foot, made when he landed at this place, coming from the Ts’ui-lan (Nicobar) Islands. There is a little water in the hollow of the imprint of this foot, which never evaporates. People dip their hands in it and wash their faces, and rub their eyes with it, saying: ‘This is Buddha’s water, which will make us pure and clean.’”—H. C.] [Illustration: Adam’s Peak. “=Or est voir qe en ceste ysle a une montagne mout haut et si degrot de les rocches qe nul hi puent monter sus se ne en ceste mainere qe je voz dirai=” ...] “The veneration with which this majestic mountain has been regarded for ages, took its rise in all probability amongst the aborigines of Ceylon.... In a later age, ... the hollow in the lofty rock that crowns the summit was said by the Brahmans to be the footstep of Siva, by the Buddhists of Buddha, ... by the Gnostics of Ieu, by the Mahometans of Adam, whilst the Portuguese authorities were divided between the conflicting claims of St. Thomas and the eunuch of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia.” (_Tennent_, II. 133.) [“Near to the King’s residence there is a lofty mountain reaching to the skies. On the top of this mountain there is the impress of a man’s foot, which is sunk two feet deep in the rock, and is some eight or more feet long. This is said to be the impress of the foot of the ancestor of mankind, a Holy man called _A-tan_, otherwise P’an-Ku.” (_Ma-Huan_, p. 213.)—H. C.] Polo, however, says nothing of the _foot_; he speaks only of the _sepulchre_ of Adam, or of Sakya-muni. I have been unable to find any modern indication of the monument that was shown by the Mahomedans as the tomb, and sometimes as the house, of Adam; but such a structure there certainly was, perhaps an ancient _Kist-vaen_, or the like. John Marignolli, who was there about 1349, has an interesting passage on the subject: “That exceeding high mountain hath a pinnacle of surpassing height, which on account of the clouds can rarely be seen. [The summit is lost in the clouds. (_Ibn Khordâdhbeh_, p. 43.)—H. C.] But God, pitying our tears, lighted it up one morning just before the sun rose, so that we beheld it glowing with the brightest flame. [They say that a flame bursts constantly, like a lightning, from the Summit of the mountain.—(_Ibn Khordâdhbeh_, p. 44.)—H. C.] In the way down from this mountain there is a fine level spot, still at a great height, and there you find in order: first, the mark of Adam’s foot; secondly, a certain statue of a sitting figure, with the left hand resting on the knee, and the right hand raised and extended towards the west; lastly, there is the house (of Adam), which he made with his own hands. It is of an oblong quadrangular shape like a sepulchre, with a door in the middle, and is formed of great tabular slabs of marble, not cemented, but merely laid one upon another. (_Cathay_, 358.) A Chinese account, translated in _Amyot’s Mémoires_, says that at the foot of the mountain is a Monastery of Bonzes, in which is seen the veritable body of Fo, in the attitude of a man lying on his side” (XIV. 25). [Ma-Huan says (p. 212): “Buddhist temples abound there. In one of them there is to be seen a full length recumbent figure of Shâkyamuni, still in a very good state of preservation. The dais on which the figure reposes is inlaid with all kinds of precious stones. It is made of sandalwood and is very handsome. The temple contains a Buddha’s tooth and other relics. This must certainly be the place where Shâkyamuni entered Nirvâna.”—H. C.] Osorio, also, in his history of Emanuel of Portugal, says: “Not far from it (the Peak) people go to see a small temple in which are two sepulchres, which are the objects of an extraordinary degree of superstitious devotion. For they believe that in these were buried the bodies of the first man and his wife” (f. 120 _v_.). A German traveller (_Daniel Parthey_, Nürnberg, 1698) also speaks of the tomb of Adam and his sons on the mountain. (See _Fabricius, Cod. Pseudep. Vet. Test._ II. 31; also _Ouseley’s Travels_, I. 59.) It is a perplexing circumstance that there is a double set of indications about the footmark. The Ceylon traditions, quoted above from Hardy, call its length 3 inches less than a carpenter’s cubit. Modern observers estimate it at 5 feet or 5½ feet. Hardy accounts for this by supposing that the original footmark was destroyed in the end of the sixteenth century. But Ibn Batuta, in the 14th, states it at 11 spans, or _more_ than the modern report. [Ibn Khordâdhbeh at 70 cubits.—H. C.] Marignolli, on the other hand, says that he measured it and found it to be 2½ palms, or about half a Prague ell, which corresponds in a general way with Hardy’s tradition. Valentyn calls it 1½ ell in length; Knox says 2 feet; Herman Bree (De Bry?), quoted by Fabricius, 8½ spans; a Chinese account, quoted below, 8 feet. These discrepancies remind one of the ancient Buddhist belief regarding such footmarks, that they seemed greater or smaller in proportion to the faith of the visitor! (See _Koeppen_, I. 529, and _Beal’s Fah-hian_, p. 27.) The chains, of which Ibn Batuta gives a particular account, exist still. The highest was called (he says) the chain of the _Shahádat_, or Credo, because the fearful abyss below made pilgrims recite the profession of belief. Ashraf, a Persian poet of the 15th century, author of an Alexandriad, ascribes these chains to the great conqueror, who devised them, with the assistance of the philosopher _Bolinas_,[1] in order to scale the mountain, and reach _the sepulchre of Adam_. (See _Ouseley_, I. 54 _seqq._) There are inscriptions on some of the chains, but I find no account of them. (_Skeen’s Adam’s Peak_, Ceylon, 1870, p. 226.) NOTE 2.—The general correctness with which Marco has here related the legendary history of Sakya’s devotion to an ascetic life, as the preliminary to his becoming the Buddha or Divinely Perfect Being, shows what a strong impression the tale had made upon him. He is, of course, wrong in placing the scene of the history in Ceylon, though probably it was so told him, as the vulgar in all Buddhist countries do seem to localise the legends in regions known to them. Sakya Sinha, Sakya Muni, or Gautama, originally called Siddhárta, was the son of Súddhodhana, the Kshatriya prince of Kapilavastu, a small state north of the Ganges, near the borders of Oudh. His high destiny had been foretold, as well as the objects that would move him to adopt the ascetic life. To keep these from his knowledge, his father caused three palaces to be built, within the limits of which the prince should pass the three seasons of the year, whilst guards were posted to bar the approach of the dreaded objects. But these precautions were defeated by inevitable destiny and the power of the Devas. When the prince was sixteen he was married to the beautiful Yasodhara, daughter of the King of Koli, and 40,000 other princesses also became the inmates of his harem. “Whilst living in the midst of the full enjoyment of every kind of pleasure, Siddhárta one day commanded his principal charioteer to prepare his festive chariot; and in obedience to his commands four lily-white horses were yoked. The prince leaped into the chariot, and proceeded towards a garden at a little distance from the palace, attended by a great retinue. On his way he saw a decrepit old man, with broken teeth, grey locks, and a form bending towards the ground, his trembling steps supported by a staff (a Deva had taken this form).... The prince enquired what strange figure it was that he saw; and he was informed that it was an old man. He then asked if the man was born so, and the charioteer answered that he was not, as he was once young like themselves. ‘Are there,’ said the prince, ‘many such beings in the world?’ ‘Your highness,’ said the charioteer, ‘there are many.’ The prince again enquired, ‘Shall I become thus old and decrepit?’ and he was told that it was a state at which all beings must arrive.” The prince returns home and informs his father of his intention to become an ascetic, seeing how undesirable is life tending to such decay. His father conjures him to put away such thoughts, and to enjoy himself with his princesses, and he strengthens the guards about the palaces. Four months later like circumstances recur, and the prince sees a leper, and after the same interval a dead body in corruption. Lastly, he sees a religious recluse, radiant with peace and tranquillity, and resolves to delay no longer. He leaves his palace at night, after a look at his wife Yasodhara and the boy just born to him, and betakes himself to the forests of Magadha, where he passes seven years in extreme asceticism. At the end of that time he attains the Buddhahood. (See _Hardy’s Manual_, p. 151 _seqq._) The latter part of the story told by Marco, about the body of the prince being brought to his father, etc., is erroneous. Sakya was 80 years of age when he died under the sál trees in Kusinára. The strange parallel between Buddhistic ritual, discipline, and costume, and those which especially claim the name of CATHOLIC in the Christian Church, has been often noticed; and though the parallel has never been elaborated as it might be, some of the more salient facts are familiar to most readers. Still many may be unaware that Buddha himself, Siddhárta the son of Súddhodhana, has found his way into the Roman martyrology as a Saint of the Church. In the first edition a mere allusion was made to this singular story, for it had recently been treated by Professor Max Müller, with characteristic learning and grace. (See _Contemporary Review_ for July, 1870, p. 588.) But the matter is so curious and still so little familiar that I now venture to give it at some length. The religious romance called the History of BARLAAM and JOSAPHAT was for several centuries one of the most popular works in Christendom. It was translated into all the chief European languages, including Scandinavian and Sclavonic tongues. An Icelandic version dates from the year 1204; one in the Tagal language of the Philippines was printed at Manilla in 1712.[2] The episodes and apologues with which the story abounds have furnished materials to poets and story-tellers in various ages and of very diverse characters; _e.g._ to Giovanni Boccaccio, John Gower, and to the compiler of the _Gesta Romanorum_, to Shakspere, and to the late W. Adams, author of the _King’s Messengers_. The basis of this romance is the story of Siddhárta. The story of Barlaam and Josaphat first appears among the works (in Greek) of St. John of Damascus, a theologian of the early part of the 8th century, who, before he devoted himself to divinity had held high office at the Court of the Khalif Abu Jáfar Almansúr. The outline of the story is as follows:— St. Thomas had converted the people of India to the truth; and after the eremitic life originated in Egypt many in India adopted it. But a potent pagan King arose, by name ABENNER, who persecuted the Christians and especially the ascetics. After this King had long been childless, a son, greatly desired, is born to him, a boy of matchless beauty. The King greatly rejoices, gives the child the name of JOSAPHAT, and summons the astrologers to predict his destiny. They foretell for the prince glory and prosperity beyond all his predecessors in the kingdom. One sage, most learned of all, assents to this, but declares that the scene of these glories will not be the paternal realm, and that the child will adopt the faith that his father persecutes. This prediction greatly troubled King Abenner. In a secluded city he caused a splendid palace to be erected, within which his son was to abide, attended only by tutors and servants in the flower of youth and health. No one from without was to have access to the prince; and he was to witness none of the afflictions of humanity, poverty, disease, old age, or death, but only what was pleasant, so that he should have no inducement to think of the future life; nor was he ever to hear a word of CHRIST or His religion. And, hearing that some monks still survived in India, the King in his wrath ordered that any such, who should be found after three days, should be burnt alive. The Prince grows up in seclusion, acquires all manner of learning, and exhibits singular endowments of wisdom and acuteness. At last he urges his father to allow him to pass the limits of the palace, and this the King reluctantly permits, after taking all precautions to arrange diverting spectacles, and to keep all painful objects at a distance. Or let us proceed in the Old English of the Golden Legend.[3] “Whan his fader herde this he was full of sorowe, and anone he let do make redy horses and ioyfull felawshyp to accompany him, in suche wyse that nothynge dyshonest sholde happen to hym. And on a tyme thus as the Kynges sone wente he mette a mesell and a blynde man, and whã he sawe them he was abasshed and enquyred what them eyled. And his seruaũtes sayd: These ben passions that comen to men. And he demaunded yf the passyons came to all men. And they sayd nay. Thã sayd he, ben they knowen whiche men shall suffre.... And they answered, Who is he that may knowe ye aduentures of men. And he began to be moche anguysshous for ye incustomable thynge hereof. And another tyme he found a man moche aged, whiche had his chere froũced, his tethe fallen, and he was all croked for age.... And thã he demaũnded what sholde be ye ende. And they sayd deth.... And this yonge man remembered ofte in his herte these thynges, and was in grete dyscõforte, but he shewed hỹ moche glad tofore his fader, and he desyred moche to be enformed and taught in these thỹges.” [Fol. ccc. lii.] At this time BARLAAM, a monk of great sanctity and knowledge in divine things, who dwelt in the wilderness of Sennaritis, having received a divine warning, travels to India in the disguise of a merchant, and gains access to Prince Josaphat, to whom he unfolds the Christian doctrine and the blessedness of the monastic life. Suspicion is raised against Barlaam, and he departs. But all efforts to shake the Prince’s convictions are vain. As a last resource the King sends for a magician called Theudas, who removes the Prince’s attendants and substitutes seductive girls, but all their blandishments are resisted through prayer. The King abandons these attempts and associates his son with himself in the government. The Prince uses his power to promote religion, and everything prospers in his hand. Finally King Abenner is drawn to the truth, and after some years of penitence dies. Josaphat then surrenders the kingdom to a friend called Barachias, and proceeds into the wilderness, where he wanders for two years seeking Barlaam, and much buffeted by the demons. “And whan Balaam had accõplysshed his dayes, he rested in peas about ye yere of Our Lorde .cccc. & .lxxx. Josaphat lefte his realme the .xxv. yere of his age, and ledde the lyfe of an heremyte .xxxv. yere, and than rested in peas full of vertues, and was buryed by the body of Balaam.” [Fol. ccc. lvi.] The King Barachias afterwards arrives and transfers the bodies solemnly to India. This is but the skeleton of the story, but the episodes and apologues which round its dimensions, and give it its mediæval popularity, do not concern our subject. In this skeleton the story of Siddhárta, _mutatis mutandis_, is obvious. The story was first popular in the Greek Church, and was embodied in the lives of the saints, as recooked by Simeon the Metaphrast, an author whose period is disputed, but was in any case not later than 1150. A Cretan monk called Agapios made selections from the work of Simeon which were published in Romaic at Venice in 1541 under the name of the _Paradise_, and in which the first section consists of the story of Barlaam and Josaphat. This has been frequently reprinted as a popular book of devotion. A copy before me is printed at Venice in 1865.[4] From the Greek Church the history of the two saints passed to the Latin, and they found a place in the Roman martyrology under the 27th November. When this first happened I have not been able to ascertain. Their history occupies a large space in the _Speculum Historiale_ of Vincent of Beauvais, written in the 13th century, and is set forth, as we have seen, in the Golden Legend of nearly the same age. They are recognised by Baronius, and are to be found at p. 348 of “The Roman Martyrology set forth by command of Pope Gregory XIII., and revised by the authority of Pope Urban VIII., translated out of Latin into English by G. K. of the Society of Jesus ... and now re-edited ... by W. N. Skelly, Esq. London, T. Richardson & Son.” (Printed at Derby, 1847.) Here in Palermo is a church bearing the dedication _Divo Iosaphat_. Professor Müller attributes the first recognition of the identity of the two stories to M. Laboulaye in 1859. But in fact I find that the historian de Couto had made the discovery long before.[5] He says, speaking of _Budão_ (Buddha), and after relating his history: “To this name the Gentiles throughout all India have dedicated great and superb pagodas. With reference to this story we have been diligent in enquiring if the ancient Gentiles of those parts had in their writings any knowledge of St. Josaphat who was converted by Barlam, who in his Legend is represented as the son of a great King of India, and who had just the same up-bringing, with all the same particulars, that we have recounted of the life of the Budão.... And as a thing seems much to the purpose, which was told us by a very old man of the Salsette territory in Baçaim, about Josaphat, I think it well to cite it: As I was travelling in the Isle of Salsette, and went to see that rare and admirable Pagoda (which we call the Canará Pagoda[6]) made in a mountain, with many halls cut out of one solid rock ... and enquiring from this old man about the work, and what he thought as to who had made it, he told us that without doubt the work was made by order of the father of St. Josaphat to bring him up therein in seclusion, as the story tells. And as it informs us that he was the son of a great King in India, it may well be, as we have just said, that _he_ was the Budão, of whom they relate such marvels.” (Dec. V. liv. vi. cap. 2.) Dominie Valentyn, not being well read in the Golden Legend, remarks on the subject of Buddha: “There be some who hold this Budhum for a fugitive Syrian Jew, or for an Israelite, others who hold him for a Disciple of the Apostle Thomas; but how in that case he could have been born 622 years before Christ I leave them to explain. Diego de Couto stands by the belief that he was certainly _Joshua_, which is still more absurd!” (V. deel, p. 374.) [Since the days of Couto, who considered the Buddhist legend but an imitation of the Christian legend, the identity of the stories was recognised (as mentioned _supra_) by M. Edouard Laboulaye, in the _Journal des Débats_ of the 26th of July, 1859. About the same time, Professor F. Liebrecht of Liège, in _Ebert’s Jahrbuch für Romanische und Englische Literatur_, II. p. 314 _seqq._, comparing the Book of Barlaam and Joasaph with the work of Barthélemy St. Hilaire on Buddha, arrived at the same conclusion. In 1880, Professor T. W. Rhys Davids has devoted some pages (xxxvi.–xli.) in his _Buddhist Birth Stories; or, Jataka Tales_, to _The Barlaam and Josaphat Literature_, and we note from them that: “Pope Sixtus the Fifth (1585–1590) authorised a particular Martyrologium, drawn up by Cardinal Baronius, to be used throughout the Western Church.”. In that work are included not only the saints first canonised at Rome, but all those who, having been already canonised elsewhere, were then acknowledged by the Pope and the College of Rites to be saints of the Catholic Church of Christ. Among such, under the date of the 27th of November, are included “The holy Saints Barlaam and Josaphat, of India, on the borders of Persia, whose wonderful acts Saint John of Damascus has described. Where and when they were first canonised, I have been unable, in spite of much investigation, to ascertain. Petrus de Natalibus, who was Bishop of Equilium, the modern Jesolo, near Venice, from 1370 to 1400, wrote a Martyrology called _Catalogus Sanctorum_; and in it, among the ‘Saints,’ he inserts both Barlaam and Josaphat, giving also a short account of them derived from the old Latin translation of St. John of Damascus. It is from this work that Baronius, the compiler of the authorised Martyrology now in use, took over the names of these two saints, Barlaam and Josaphat. But, so far as I have been able to ascertain, they do not occur in any martyrologies or lists of saints of the Western Church older than that of Petrus de Natalibus. In the corresponding manual of worship still used in the Greek Church, however, we find, under 26th August, the name ‘of the holy Iosaph, son of Abenēr, King of India.’ Barlaam is not mentioned, and is not therefore recognised as a saint in the Greek Church. No history is added to the simple statement I have quoted; and I do not know on what authority it rests. But there is no doubt that it is in the East, and probably among the records of the ancient church of Syria, that a final solution of this question should be sought. Some of the more learned of the numerous writers who translated or composed new works on the basis of the story of Josaphat, have pointed out in their notes that he had been canonised; and the hero of the romance is usually called St. Josaphat in the titles of these works, as will be seen from the Table of the Josaphat literature below. But Professor Liebrecht, when identifying Josaphat with the Buddha, took no notice of this; and it was Professor Max Müller, who has done so much to infuse the glow of life into the dry bones of Oriental scholarship, who first pointed out the strange fact—almost incredible, were it not for the completeness of the proof—that Gotama the Buddha, under the name of St. Josaphat, is now officially recognised and honoured and worshipped throughout the whole of Catholic Christendom as a Christian saint!” Professor T. W. Rhys Davids gives further a Bibliography, pp. xcv.–xcvii. M. H. Zotenberg wrote a learned memoir (_N. et Ext._ XXVIII. Pt. I.) in 1886 to prove that the Greek Text is not a translation but the original of the Legend. There are many MSS. of the Greek Text of the Book of Barlaam and Joasaph in Paris, Vienna, Munich, etc., including ten MSS. kept in various libraries at Oxford. New researches made by Professor E. Kuhn, of Munich (_Barlaam und Joasaph. Eine Bibliographisch-literargeschichtliche Studie_, 1893), seem to prove that during the 6th century, in that part of the Sassanian Empire bordering on India, in fact Afghanistan, Buddhism and Christianity were gaining ground at the expense of the Zoroastrian faith, and that some Buddhist wrote in Pehlevi a _Book of Yûdâsaf_ (Bodhisatva); a Christian, finding pleasant the legend, made an adaptation of it from his own point of view, introducing the character of the monk Balauhar (Barlaam) to teach his religion to Yûdâsaf, who could not, in his Christian disguise, arrive at the truth by himself like a Bodhisatva. This Pehlevi version of the newly-formed Christian legend was translated into Syriac, and from Syriac was drawn a Georgian version, and, in the first half of the 7th century, the Greek Text of John, a monk of the convent of St. Saba, near Jerusalem, by some turned into St. John of Damascus, who added to the story some long theological discussions. From this Greek, it was translated into all the known languages of Europe, while the Pehlevi version being rendered into Arabic, was adapted by the Mussulmans and the Jews to their own creeds. (_H. Zotenberg, Mém. sur le texte et les versions orientales du Livre de Barlaam et Joasaph, Not. et Ext._ XXVIII. Pt. I. pp. 1–166; _G. Paris, Saint Josaphat_ in _Rev. de Paris_, 1ᵉʳ Juin, 1895, and _Poèmes et Légendes du Moyen Age_, pp. 181–214.) Mr. Joseph Jacobs published in London, 1896, a valuable little book, _Barlaam and Josaphat, English Lives of Buddha_, in which he comes to this conclusion (p. xli.): “I regard the literary history of the Barlaam literature as completely parallel with that of the Fables of Bidpai. Originally Buddhistic books, both lost their specifically Buddhistic traits before they left India, and made their appeal, by their parables, more than by their doctrines. Both were translated into Pehlevi in the reign of Chosroes, and from that watershed floated off into the literatures of all the great creeds. In Christianity alone, characteristically enough, one of them, the Barlaam book, was surcharged with dogma, and turned to polemical uses, with the curious result that Buddha became one of the champions of the Church. To divest the Barlaam-Buddha of this character, and see him in his original form, we must take a further journey and seek him in his home beyond the Himalayas.” [Illustration: Sakya Muni as a Saint of the Roman Martyrology. “=Wie des Kunigs Sun in dem aufscziechen am ersten sahe in dem Weg eynen blinden und eyn aufsmörckigen und eynen alten krummen Man.=”[7]] Professor Gaston Paris, in answer to Mr. Jacobs, writes (_Poèmes et Lég. du Moyen Age_, p. 213): “Mr. Jacobs thinks that the Book of Balauhar and Yûdâsaf was not originally Christian, and could have existed such as it is now in Buddhistic India, but it is hardly likely, as Buddha did not require the help of a teacher to find truth, and his followers would not have invented the person of Balauhar-Barlaam; on the other hand, the introduction of the Evangelical Parable of _The Sower_, which exists in the original of all the versions of our Book, shows that this original was a Christian adaptation of the Legend of Buddha. Mr. Jacobs seeks vainly to lessen the force of this proof in showing that this Parable has parallels in Buddhistic literature.”—H. C.] NOTE 3.—Marco is not the only eminent person who has expressed this view of Sakyamuni’s life in such words. Professor Max Müller (_u.s._) says: “And whatever we may think of the sanctity of saints, let those who doubt the right of Buddha to a place among them, read the story of his life as it is told in the Buddhistic canon. If he lived the life which is there described, few saints have a better claim to the title than Buddha; and no one either in the Greek or the Roman Church need be ashamed of having paid to his memory the honour that was intended for St. Josaphat, the prince, the hermit, and the saint.” NOTE 4.—This is curiously like a passage in the _Wisdom of Solomon_: “Neque enim erant (idola) ab initio, neque erunt in perpetuum ... acerbo enim luctu dolens pater cito sibi rapti filii fecit imaginem: et illum qui tunc quasi homo mortuus fuerat nunc tamquam deum colere cœpit, et constituit inter servos suos sacra et sacrificia” (xiv. 13–15). Gower alludes to the same story; I know not whence taken:— “Of _Cirophanes_, seith the booke, That he for sorow, whiche he toke Of that he sigh his sonne dede, Of comfort knewe none other rede, But lete do make in remembrance A faire image of his semblance, And set it in the market place: Whiche openly to fore his face Stood euery day, to done hym ease; And thei that than wolden please The Fader, shuld it obeye, Whan that thei comen thilke weye.”—_Confessio Amantis_.[8] NOTE 5.—Adam’s Peak has for ages been a place of pilgrimage to Buddhists, Hindus, and Mahomedans, and appears still to be so. Ibn Batuta says the Mussulman pilgrimage was instituted in the 10th century. The book on the history of the Mussulmans in Malabar, called _Tohfat-ul-Mujáhidín_ (p. 48), ascribes their first settlement in that country to a party of pilgrims returning from Adam’s Peak. Marignolli, on his visit to the mountain, mentions “another pilgrim, a Saracen of Spain; for many go on pilgrimage to Adam.” The identification of Adam with objects of Indian worship occurs in various forms. Tod tells how an old Rajput Chief, as they stood before a famous temple of Mahádeo near Udipúr, invited him to enter and worship “Father Adam.” Another traveller relates how Brahmans of Bagesar on the Sarjú identified Mahadeo and Parvati with Adam and Eve. A Malay MS., treating of the _origines_ of Java, represents Brahma, Mahadeo, and Vishnu to be descendants of Adam through Seth. And in a Malay paraphrase of the Ramáyana, _Nabi Adam_ takes the place of Vishnu. (_Tod_ I. 96; _J. A. S. B._ XVI. 233; _J. R. A. S._ N.S. II. 102; _J. Asiat._ IV. s. VII. 438.) NOTE 6.—The _Pâtra_, or alms-pot, was the most valued legacy of Buddha. It had served the three previous Buddhas of this world-period, and was destined to serve the future one, Maitreya. The Great Aṣoka sent it to Ceylon. Thence it was carried off by a Tamul chief in the 1st century, A.D., but brought back we know not how, and is still shown in the Malagawa Vihara at Kandy. As usual in such cases, there were rival reliques, for Fa-hian found the alms-pot preserved at Pesháwar. Hiuen Tsang says in his time it was no longer there, but in Persia. And indeed the _Pâtra_ from Pesháwar, according to a remarkable note by Sir Henry Rawlinson, is still preserved at Kandahár, under the name of _Kashkul_ (or the Begging-pot), and retains among the Mussulman Dervishes the sanctity and miraculous repute which it bore among the Buddhist _Bhikshus_. Sir Henry conjectures that the deportation of this vessel, the palladium of the true _Gandhára_ (Pesháwar), was accompanied by a popular emigration, and thus accounts for the transfer of that name also to the chief city of Arachosia. (_Koeppen_, I. 526; _Fah-hian_, p. 36; _H. Tsang_, II. 106; _J. R. A. S._ XI. 127.) Sir E. Tennent, through Mr. Wylie (to whom this book owes so much), obtained the following curious Chinese extract referring to Ceylon (written 1350): “In front of the image of Buddha there is a sacred bowl, which is neither made of jade nor copper, nor iron; it is of a purple colour, and glossy, and when struck it sounds like glass. At the commencement of the Yuen Dynasty (_i.e._ under Kúblái) three separate envoys were sent to obtain it.” Sanang Setzen also corroborates Marco’s statement: “Thus did the Khaghan (Kúblái) cause the sun of religion to rise over the dark land of the Mongols; he also procured from India images and reliques of Buddha; among others the _Pâtra_ of Buddha, which was presented to him by the four kings (of the cardinal points), and also the _chandana chu_” (a miraculous sandal-wood image). (_Tennent_, I. 622; _Schmidt_, p. 119.) The text also says that several _teeth_ of Buddha were preserved in Ceylon, and that the Kaan’s embassy obtained two molars. Doubtless the envoys were imposed on; no solitary case in the amazing history of that relique, for _the_ Dalada, or tooth relique, seems in all historic times to have been unique. This, “the left canine tooth” of the Buddha, is related to have been preserved for 800 years at Dantapura (“_Odontopolis_”), in Kalinga, generally supposed to be the modern Púri or Jagannáth. Here the Brahmans once captured it and carried it off to Palibothra, where they tried in vain to destroy it. Its miraculous resistance converted the king, who sent it back to Kalinga. About A.D. 311 the daughter of King Guhaśiva fled with it to Ceylon. In the beginning of the 14th century it was captured by the Tamuls and carried to the Pandya country on the continent, but recovered some years later by King Parakrama III., who went in person to treat for it. In 1560 the Portuguese got possession of it and took it to Goa. The King of Pegu, who then reigned, probably the most powerful and wealthy monarch who has ever ruled in Further India, made unlimited offers in exchange for the tooth; but the archbishop prevented the viceroy from yielding to these temptations, and it was solemnly pounded to atoms by the prelate, then cast into a charcoal fire, and finally its ashes thrown into the river of Goa. The King of Pegu was, however, informed by a crafty minister of the King of Ceylon that only a sham tooth had been destroyed by the Portuguese, and that the real relique was still safe. This he obtained by extraordinary presents, and the account of its reception at Pegu, as quoted by Tennent from De Couto, is a curious parallel to Marco’s narrative of the Great Kaan’s reception of the Ceylon reliques at Cambaluc. The extraordinary object still so solemnly preserved at Kandy is another forgery, set up about the same time. So the immediate result of the viceroy’s virtue was that two reliques were worshipped instead of one! The possession of the tooth has always been a great object of desire to Buddhist sovereigns. In the 11th century King Anarauhta, of Burmah, sent a mission to Ceylon to endeavour to procure it, but he could obtain only a “miraculous emanation” of the relique. A tower to contain the sacred tooth was (1855), however, one of the buildings in the palace court of Amarapura. A few years ago the King of Burma repeated the mission of his remote predecessor, but obtained only a _model_, and this has been deposited within the walls of the palace at Mandalé, the new capital. (_Turnour_ in _J. A. S. B._ VI. 856 _seqq._; _Koeppen_, I. 521; _Tennent_, I. 388, II. 198 _seqq._; _MS. Note by Sir A. Phayre; Mission to Ava_, 136.) [Illustration: Teeth of Buddha. 1. At Kandy, after Tennent. 2. At Fu-Chau, from Fortune.] Of the four eye-teeth of Sakya, one, it is related, passed to the heaven of Indra; the second to the capital of Gandhára; the third to Kalinga; the fourth to the snake-gods. The Gandhára tooth was perhaps, like the alms-bowl, carried off by a Sassanid invasion, and may be identical with that tooth of Fo, which the Chinese annals state to have been brought to China in A.D. 530 by a Persian embassy. A tooth of Buddha is now shown in a monastery at Fu-chau; but whether this be either the Sassanian present, or that got from Ceylon by Kúblái, is unknown. Other teeth of Buddha were shown in Hiuen Tsang’s time at Balkh, at Nagarahára (or Jalálábád), in Kashmir, and at Kanauj. (_Koeppen_, u.s.; _Fortune_, II. 108; _H. Tsang_, II. 31, 80, 263.) NOTE 7.—Fa-hian writes of the alms-pot at Pesháwar, that poor people could fill it with a few flowers, whilst a rich man should not be able to do so with 100, nay, with 1000 or 10,000 bushels of rice; a parable doubtless originally carrying a lesson, like Our Lord’s remark on the widow’s mite, but which hardened eventually into some foolish story like that in the text. The modern Mussulman story at Kandahar is that the alms-pot will contain any quantity of liquor without overflowing. This _Pâtra_ is the Holy Grail of Buddhism. Mystical powers of nourishment are ascribed also to the Grail in the European legends. German scholars have traced in the romances of the Grail remarkable indications of Oriental origin. It is not impossible that the alms-pot of Buddha was the prime source of them. Read the prophetic history of the _Pâtra_ as Fa-hian heard it in India (p. 161); its mysterious wanderings over Asia till it is taken up into the heaven _Tushita_, where Maitreya the Future Buddha dwells. When it has disappeared from earth the Law gradually perishes, and violence and wickedness more and more prevail: ——“What is it? The phantom of a cup that comes and goes? * * * * * If a man Could touch or see it, he was heal’d at once, By faith, of all his ills. But then the times Grew to such evil that the holy cup Was caught away to Heaven, and disappear’d.” —_Tennyson’s Holy Grail._ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] _Apollonia_ (of Macedonia) is made _Bolina_; so _Bolinas_ = Apollonius (Tyanaeus). [2] In 1870 I saw in the Libary at Monte Cassino a long French poem on the story, in a MS. of our traveller’s age. This is perhaps one referred to by Migne, as cited in _Hist. Litt. de la France_, XV. 484. [It “has even been published in the Spanish dialect used in the Philippine Islands!” (_Rhys Davids, Jataka Tales_, p. xxxvii.) In a MS. note, Yule says: “Is not this a mistake?”—H. C.] [3] Imprynted at London in Flete Strete at the sygne of the Sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde (1527). [4] The first Life is thus entitled: Βίος καὶ Πολιτεία τοῦ Ὁσίου Πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ Ἰσαποστόλου Ἰωάσαφ τοῦ βασιλέως τῆς Ἰνδίας. Professor Müller says all the Greek copies have _Ioasaph_. I have access to no copy in the ancient Greek. [5] Also _Migne’s Dict. Légendes_, quoting a letter of C. L. Struve, Director of Königsberg Gymnasium, to the _Journal Général de l’Inst. Publ._, says that “an earlier story is entirely reproduced in the Barlaam,” but without saying what story. [6] The well-known Kánhari Caves. (See _Handbook for India_, p. 306.) [7] The quotation and the cut are from an old German version of Barlaam and Josaphat printed by Zainer at Augsburg, _circa_ 1477. (B. M., Grenv. Lib., No. 11,766.) [8] Ed. 1554, fol. xci. _v_. So also I find in _A. Tostati Hisp. Comment. in primam ptem. Exodi_, Ven. 1695, pp. 295–296: “Idola autem sculpta in Aegypto primo inventa sunt per _Syrophenem_ primum Idolotrarum; ante hoc enim pura elementa ut dii colebantur.” I cannot trace the tale. CHAPTER XVI. CONCERNING THE GREAT PROVINCE OF MAABAR, WHICH IS CALLED INDIA THE GREATER, AND IS ON THE MAINLAND. When you leave the Island of Seilan and sail westward about 60 miles, you come to the great province of MAABAR which is styled INDIA THE GREATER; it is best of all the Indies and is on the mainland. You must know that in this province there are five kings, who are own brothers. I will tell you about each in turn. The Province is the finest and noblest in the world. At this end of the Province reigns one of those five Royal Brothers, who is a crowned King, and his name is SONDER BANDI DAVAR. In his kingdom they find very fine and great pearls; and I will tell you how they are got.{1} You must know that the sea here forms a gulf between the Island of Seilan and the mainland. And all round this gulf the water has a depth of no more than 10 or 12 fathoms, and in some places no more than two fathoms. The pearl-fishers take their vessels, great and small, and proceed into this gulf, where they stop from the beginning of April till the middle of May. They go first to a place called BETTELAR, and (then) go 60 miles into the gulf. Here they cast anchor and shift from their large vessels into small boats. You must know that the many merchants who go divide into various companies, and each of these must engage a number of men on wages, hiring them for April and half of May. Of all the produce they have first to pay the King, as his royalty, the tenth part. And they must also pay those men who charm the great fishes, to prevent them from injuring the divers whilst engaged in seeking pearls under water, one twentieth part of all that they take. These fish-charmers are termed _Abraiaman_; and their charm holds good for that day only, for at night they dissolve the charm so that the fishes can work mischief at their will. These Abraiaman know also how to charm beasts and birds and every living thing. When the men have got into the small boats they jump into the water and dive to the bottom, which may be at a depth of from 4 to 12 fathoms, and there they remain as long as they are able. And there they find the shells that contain the pearls [and these they put into a net bag tied round the waist, and mount up to the surface with them, and then dive anew. When they can’t hold their breath any longer they come up again, and after a little down they go once more, and so they go on all day].{2} The shells are in fashion like oysters or sea-hoods. And in these shells are found pearls, great and small, of every kind, sticking in the flesh of the shell-fish. In this manner pearls are fished in great quantities, for thence in fact come the pearls which are spread all over the world. And I can tell you the King of that State hath a very great receipt and treasure from his dues upon those pearls. As soon as the middle of May is past, no more of those pearl-shells are found there. It is true, however, that a long way from that spot, some 300 miles distant, they are also found; but that is in September and the first half of October. NOTE 1.—MAABAR (_Ma’băr_) was the name given by the Mahomedans at this time (13th and 14th centuries) to a tract corresponding in a general way to what we call the Coromandel Coast. The word in Arabic signifies the Passage or Ferry, and may have referred either to the communication with Ceylon, or, as is more probable, to its being in that age the coast most frequented by travellers from Arabia and the Gulf.[1] The name does not appear in Edrisi, nor, I believe, in any of the older geographers, and the earliest use of it that I am aware of is in Abdallatif’s account of Egypt, a work written about 1203–1204. (_De Sacy, Rel. de l’Egypte_, p. 31.) Abulfeda distinctly names Cape Comorin as the point where Malabar ended and Ma’bar began, and other authority to be quoted presently informs us that it extended to _Niláwar_, _i.e._ Nellore. There are difficulties as to the particular locality of the port or city which Polo visited in the territory of the Prince whom he calls Sondar Bandi Davar; and there are like doubts as to the identification, from the dark and scanty Tamul records, of the Prince himself, and the family to which he belonged; though he is mentioned by more than one foreign writer besides Polo. Thus Wassáf: “Ma’bar extends in length from Kaulam to Niláwar, nearly 300 parasangs along the sea-coast; and in the language of that country the king is called Devar, which signifies, ‘the Lord of Empire.’ The curiosities of Chín and Máchín, and the beautiful products of Hind and Sind, laden on large ships which they call _Junks_, sailing like mountains with the wings of the wind on the surface of the water, are always arriving there. The wealth of the Isles of the Persian Gulf in particular, and in part the beauty and adornment of other countries, from ’Irak and Khurásán as far as Rúm and Europe, are derived from Ma’bar, which is so situated as to be the key of Hind. “A few years since the DEVAR was SUNDAR PANDI, who had three brothers, each of whom established himself in independence in some different country. The eminent prince, the Margrave (_Marzbán_) of Hind, Taki-uddin Abdu-r Rahmán, a son of Muhammad-ut-Tíbí, whose virtues and accomplishments have for a long time been the theme of praise and admiration among the chief inhabitants of that beautiful country, was the Devar’s deputy, minister, and adviser, and was a man of sound judgment. Fattan, Malifattan, and Káil[2] were made over to his possession.... In the months of the year 692 H. (A.D. 1293) the above-mentioned Devar, the ruler of Ma’bar, died and left behind him much wealth and treasure. It is related by Malik-ul-Islám Jamáluddín, that out of that treasure 7000 oxen laden with precious stones and pure gold and silver fell to the share of the brother who succeeded him. Malik-i ’Azam Taki-uddin continued prime minister as before, and in fact ruler of that kingdom, and his glory and magnificence were raised a thousand times higher.”[3] Seventeen years later (1310) Wassáf introduces another king of Ma’bar called _Kalesa Devar_, who had ruled for forty years in prosperity, and had accumulated in the treasury of Shahr-Mandi (_i.e._, as Dr. Caldwell informs me MADURA, entitled by the Mahomedan invaders Shahr-Pandi, and still occasionally mispronounced _Shahr-Mandi_) 1200 crores (!) in gold. He had two sons, SUNDAR BANDI by a lawful wife, and Pirabandi (Vira Pandi?) illegitimate. He designated the latter as his successor. Sundar Bandi, enraged at this, slew his father and took forcible possession of Shahr-Mandi and its treasures. Pirabandi succeeded in driving him out; Sundar Bandi went to Aláuddin, Sultan of Delhi, and sought help. The Sultan eventually sent his general Hazárdinári (_alias_ Malik Káfúr) to conquer Ma’bar. In the third volume of Elliot we find some of the same main facts, with some differences and greater detail, as recounted by Amír Khusru. Bir Pandiya and Sundara Pandiya are the _Rais_ of Ma’bar, and are at war with one another, when the army of Alaúddin, after reducing Bilál Deo of Dwára Samudra, descends upon Ma’bar in the beginning of 1311 (p. 87 _seqq._). We see here two rulers in Ma’bar, within less than twenty years, bearing the name of Sundara Pandi. And, strange to say, more than a century before, during the continental wars of Parákráma Bahu I., the most martial of Singhalese kings (A.D. 1153–1186), we find _another Kulasaíkera_ (= _Kalesa_ of Wassáf), King of Madura, with _another Víra Pandi_ for son, and _another Sundara Pandi_ Rája, figuring in the history of the _Pandionis Regio_. But let no one rashly imagine that there is a confusion in the chronology here. The Hindu Chronology of the continental states is dark and confused enough, but not that of Ceylon, which in this, as in sundry other respects, comes under Indo-Chinese rather than Indian analogies. (See _Turnour’s Ceylonese Epitome_, pp. 41–43; and _J. A. S. B._ XLI. Pt. I. p. 197 _seqq._) In a note with which Dr. Caldwell favoured me some time before the first publication of this work, he considers that the Sundar Bandi of Polo and the Persian Historians is undoubtedly to be identified with that Sundara Pandi Devar, who is in the Tamul Catalogues the last king of the ancient Pandya line, and who was (says Dr. Caldwell,) “succeeded by Mahomedans, by a new line of Pandyas, by the Náyak Kings, by the Nabobs of Arcot, and finally by the English. He became for a time a Jaina, but was reconverted to the worship of Siva, when his name was changed from _Kun_ or _Kubja_, ‘Crook-backed,’ to _Sundara_, ‘Beautiful,’ in accordance with a change which then took place, the Saivas say, in his personal appearance. Probably his name, from the beginning, was Sundara.... In the inscriptions belonging to the period of his reign he is invariably represented, not as a joint king or viceroy, but as an absolute monarch ruling over an extensive tract of country, including the Chola country or Tanjore, and Conjeveram, and as the only possessor for the time being of the title _Pandi Devar_. It is clear from the agreement of Rashiduddin with Marco Polo that Sundara Pandi’s power was shared in some way with his brothers, but it seems certain also from the inscription that there was a sense in which he alone was king.” I do not give the whole of Dr. Caldwell’s remarks on this subject, because, the 3rd volume of Elliot not being then published, he had not before him the whole of the information from the Mussulman historians, which shows so clearly that _two_ princes bearing the name of Sundara Pandi are mentioned by them, and because I cannot see my way to adopt his view, great as is the weight due to his opinion on any such question. Extraordinary darkness hangs over the chronology of the South Indian kingdoms, as we may judge from the fact that Dr. Caldwell would have thus placed at the end of the 13th century, on the evidence of Polo and Rashiduddin, the reign of the last of the genuine Pandya kings, whom other calculations place earlier even by centuries. Thus, to omit views more extravagant, Mr. Nelson, the learned official historian of Madura, supposes it on the whole most probable that Kun Pandya _alias_ Sundara, reigned in the latter half of the 11th century. “The Sri Tala Book, which appears to have been written about 60 years ago, and was probably compiled from brief Tamil chronicles then in existence, states that the Pandya race became extinct upon the death of Kún Pandya; and the children of concubines and of younger brothers who (had) lived in former ages, fought against one another, split up the country into factions, and got themselves crowned, and ruled one in one place, another in another. But none of these families succeeded in getting possession of Madura, the capital, which consequently fell into decay. And further on it tells us, rather inconsistently, that up to A.D. 1324 the kings ‘who ruled the Madura country, were part of the time Pandyas, at other times foreigners.’” And a variety of traditions referred to by Mr. Nelson appears to interpose such a period of unsettlement and shifting and divided sovereignty, extending over a considerable time, between the end of the genuine Pandya Dynasty and the Mahomedan invasion; whilst lists of numerous princes who reigned in this period have been handed down. Now we have just seen that the Mahomedan invasion took place in 1311, and we must throw aside the traditions and the lists altogether if we suppose that the Sundara Pandi of 1292 was the last prince of the Old Line. Indeed, though the indication is faint, the manner in which Wassáf speaks of Polo’s Sundara and his brothers as having established themselves in different territories, and as in constant war with each other, is suggestive of the state of unsettlement which the Sri Tala and the traditions describe. There is a difficulty in co-ordinating these four or five brothers at constant war, whom Polo found in possession of different provinces of Ma’bar about 1290, with the Devar Kalesa, of whom Wassáf speaks as slain in 1310 after a prosperous reign of