MARCO POLO, 1253-1324.
I.
The interest of the Genoese and Venetian merchants in encouraging
the exploration of Central Asia--The family of Polo, and its
position in Venice--Nicholas and Matteo Polo, the two brothers--They
go from Constantinople to the Court of the Emperor of China--Their
reception at the Court of Kublai-Khan--The Emperor appoints them his
ambassadors to the Pope--Their return to Venice--Marco Polo--He
leaves his father Nicholas and his uncle Matteo for the residence of
the King of Tartary--The new Pope Gregory X.--The narrative of Marco
Polo is written in French from his dictation, by Rusticien of Pisa.
The Genoese and Venetian merchants could not fail to be much
interested in the explorations of the brave travellers in Central
Asia, India, and China, for they saw that these countries would give
them new openings for disposing of their merchandise, and also the
great benefit to be derived by the West from being supplied with the
productions of the East. The interests of commerce stimulated fresh
explorations, and it was this motive that actuated two noble
Venetians to leave their homes, and brave all the fatigue and danger
of a perilous journey.
These two Venetians belonged to the family of Polo, which had come
originally from Dalmatia, and, owing to successful trading, had
become so opulent as to be reckoned among the patrician families of
Venice. In 1260 the two brothers, Nicholas and Matteo, who had lived
for some years in Constantinople, where they had established a
branch house, went to the Crimea, with a considerable stock of
precious stones, where their eldest brother, Andrea Polo, had his
place of business. Thence, taking a north-easterly direction and
crossing the country of the Comans, they reached the camp of
Barkai-Khan on the Volga. This Mongol prince received the two
merchants very kindly, and bought all the jewels they offered him at
double their value.
Nicolo and Matteo remained a year in the Mongolian camp, but a war
breaking out at this time between Barkai, and Houlagou, the
conqueror of Persia, the two brothers, not wishing to be in the
midst of a country where war was being waged, went to Bokhara, and
there they remained three years. But when Barkai was vanquished and
his capital taken, the partisans of Houlagou induced the two
Venetians to follow them to the residence of the grand Khan of
Tartary, who was sure to give them a hearty welcome. This
Kublai-Khan, the fourth son of Gengis-Khan, was Emperor of China,
and was then at his summer-palace in Mongolia, on the frontier of
the Chinese empire.
The Venetian merchants set out, and were a whole year crossing the
immense extent of country lying between Bokhara and the northern
limits of China. Kublai-Khan was much pleased to receive these
strangers from the distant West. He feted them, and asked, with much
eagerness, for any information that they could give him of what was
happening in Europe, requiring details of the government of the
various kings and emperors, and their methods of making war; and he
then conversed at some length about the Pope and the state of the
Latin Church. Matteo and Nicolo fortunately spoke the Tartar
language fluently, so they could freely answer all the emperor's
questions.
[Illustration: Kublai-Khan's feast on the arrival of the Venetian
Merchants.]
It had occurred to Kublai-Khan to send messengers to the Pope; and
he seized the opportunity to beg the two brothers to act as his
ambassadors to his Holiness. The merchants thankfully accepted his
proposal, for they foresaw that this new character would be very
advantageous to them. The emperor had some charters drawn up in the
Turkish language, asking the Pope to send a hundred learned men to
convert his people to Christianity; then he appointed one of his
barons named Cogatal to accompany them, and he charged them to bring
him some oil from the sacred lamp, which is perpetually burning
before the tomb of Christ at Jerusalem.
The two brothers took leave of the khan, having been furnished with
passports by him, which put both men and horses at their disposal
throughout the empire, and in 1266 they set out on their journey.
Soon the baron Cogatal fell ill, and the Venetians were obliged to
leave him and continue their journey; but in spite of all the aid
that had been given to them, they were three years in reaching the
port of Laias, in Armenia, now known by the name of Issus. Leaving
this port, they arrived at Acre in 1269, where they heard of the
death of Pope Clement IV., to whom they were sent, but the legate
Theobald lived in Acre and received the Venetians; learning what was
the object of their mission he begged them to wait for the election
of the new Pope.
The brothers had been absent from their country for fifteen years,
so they resolved to return to Venice, and at Negropont they embarked
on board a vessel that was going direct to their native town.
On landing there, Nicolo was met by news of the death of his wife,
and of the birth of his son, who had been born shortly after his
departure in 1254; this son was the celebrated Marco Polo. The two
brothers waited at Venice for the election of the Pope, but at the
end of two years, as it had not taken place, they thought they could
no longer defer their return to the Emperor of the Mongols;
accordingly they started for Acre, taking Marco Polo with them, who
could not then have been more than seventeen. At Acre they had an
interview with the legate Theobald, who authorized them to go to
Jerusalem and there to procure some of the sacred oil. This mission
accomplished, the Venetians returned to Acre and asked the legate to
give them letters to Kublai-Khan, mentioning the death of Pope
Clement IV.; he complied with their request, and they returned to
Laias or Issus. There, to their great joy, they learnt that the
legate Theobald had just been made Pope with the title of Gregory X.,
on the 1st of September, 1271. The newly-elected Pope sent at once
for the Venetian envoys, and the King of Armenia placed a galley at
their disposal to expedite their return to Acre. The Pope received
them with much affection, and gave them letters to the Emperor of
China; he added two preaching friars, Nicholas of Vicenza and
William of Tripoli, to their party, and gave them his blessing on
their departure. They went back to Laias, but had scarcely arrived
before they were made prisoners by the soldiers of the Mameluke
Sultan Bibars, who was then ravaging Armenia. The two preaching
friars were so discouraged at this outset of the expedition that
they gave up all idea of going to China, and left the two Venetians
and Marco Polo to prosecute the journey together as best they could.
Here begins what may properly be called Marco Polo's travels. It is
a question if he really visited all the places that he describes,
and it seems probable that he did not; in fact, in the narrative
written at his dictation by Rusticien of Pisa it is stated
"Marco-Polo, a wise and noble citizen of Venice, saw nearly all
herein described with his own eyes, and what he did not see he
learnt from the lips of truthful and credible witnesses;" but we
must add that the greater part of the kingdoms and towns spoken of
by Marco Polo he certainly did visit. We will follow the route he
describes, simply pointing out what the traveller learnt by hearsay,
during the important missions with which he was charged by
Kublai-Khan. During this second journey the travellers did not
follow exactly the same road as on the first occasion of their visit
to the Emperor of China. They had lengthened their route by passing
to the north of the celestial mountains, but now they turned to the
south of them, and though this route was shorter than the other,
they were three years and a half in accomplishing their journey,
being much impeded by the rains and the difficulty of crossing the
great rivers. Their course may be easily followed with the help of a
map of Asia, as we have substituted the modern names in place of the
ancient ones used by Marco Polo in his narrative.
[Illustration: Marco Polo.]
II.
MARCO POLO.
Armenia Minor--Armenia--Mount Ararat--Georgia--Mosul, Baghdad,
Bussorah, Tauris--Persia--The Province of Kirman--Comadi--Ormuz--The
Old Man of the Mountain--Cheburgan--Balkh--Cashmir--Kashgar--
Samarcand--Kotan--The Desert--Tangun--Kara-Korum--Signan-fu--The
Great Wall--Chang-tou--The residence of Kublai-Khan--Cambaluc, now
Pekin--The Emperor's fetes--His hunting--Description of Pekin--
Chinese Mint and bank-notes--The system of posts in the Empire.
Marco Polo left the town of Issus; he describes Armenia Minor as a
very unhealthy place, the inhabitants of which, though once valiant,
are now cowardly and wretched, their only talent seeming to lie in
their capacity for drinking to excess. From Armenia Minor he went to
Turcomania, whose inhabitants, though somewhat of savages, are
clever in cultivating pastures and breeding horses and mules; and
the townspeople excel in the manufacture of carpets and silk.
Armenia Proper, that Marco Polo next visited, affords a good
camping-ground to the Tartar armies during the summer. There the
traveller saw Mount Ararat, where Noah's Ark rested after the Deluge.
He noticed that the lands bordering on the Caspian Sea afford large
supplies of naphtha, which forms an important item in the trade of
that neighbourhood.
When he left Armenia he took a north-easterly course towards Georgia,
a kingdom lying on the south side of the Caucasus, whose ancient
kings, says the legend, "were born with an eagle traced on their
right shoulders." The Georgians, he describes as good archers and
men of war, and also as clever in working in gold and manufacturing
silk. Here is a celebrated defile, four leagues in length, which
lies between the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea, that the Turks call
the Iron Door, and Europeans the Pass of Derbend, and here too is
the miraculous lake, where fish are said to exist only during Lent.
Hence the travellers descended towards the kingdom of Mosul, and
arrived at the town of the same name on the right bank of the Tigris,
thence going to Baghdad, the residence of the Caliph of all the
Saracens. Marco Polo gives an account of the taking of Baghdad by
the Tartars in 1255; mentioning a wonderful story in support of the
Christian idea of Faith, "that can remove mountains;" he points out
the route from this town to the Persian Gulf, which may be reached
in eighteen days by the river, passing Bussorah, the country of
dates.
From this point to Tauris, a Persian town in the province of
Adzer-baidjan, Marco Polo's route seems to be doubtful. He takes up
his narrative at Tauris, which he describes as a large flourishing
town built in the midst of beautiful gardens and carrying on a great
traffic in precious stones and other valuable merchandise, but its
Saracen inhabitants are disloyal and treacherous. Here he seems to
divide Persia geographically into eight provinces. The natives of
Persia, according to him, are formidable enemies to the merchants,
who are obliged to travel armed with bows and arrows. The principal
trade of the country seems to be in horses and asses, which are sent
to Kis or Ormuz and thence to India. The natural productions of the
country are wheat, barley, millet, and grapes, which grow in
abundance.
Marco Polo went next to Yezd, the most easterly town of Persia
Proper; on leaving it, after a ride of seven days through
magnificent forests abounding in game, he came to the province of
Kirman. Here the mines yield large quantities of turquoise, as well
as iron and antimony; the manufacture of arms and harness as well as
embroidery and the training of falcons for hunting occupy a great
number of the inhabitants. On leaving Kirman Marco Polo and his two
companions set out on a nine days' journey across a rich and
populous country to the town of Comadi, which is supposed to be the
Memaun of the present day, and was even then sinking into decay. The
country was superb; on all sides were to be seen fine fat sheep,
great oxen, white as snow, with short strong horns, and thousands of
domestic fowls and other birds; also there were magnificent date,
orange, and pistachio trees.
After travelling for five days they entered the beautiful and well
watered plain of Cormos or Ormuz, and after two days' further march
they reached the shores of the Persian Gulf and the town of Ormuz,
which forms the sea-port of the kingdom of Kirman. This country they
found very warm und unhealthy, but rich in date and spice trees, in
grain, precious stones, silk and golden stuffs, and elephants' tusks,
wine made from the date and other merchandise being brought into the
town ready for shipment on board ships with but one mast, which came
in numbers to the port; but many were lost on the voyage to India,
as they were only built with wooden pegs, not iron nails, to fasten
them together.
From Ormuz, Marco Polo, going up again towards the north-east,
visited Kirman; then he ventured by dangerous roads across a sandy
desert, where there was only brackish water to be found, the desert
across which, 1500 years before, Alexander had led his army to meet
Nearchus. Seven days afterwards he entered the town of Khabis. On
leaving this town he crossed for eight days the great plains to
Tonokan, the capital of the province of Kumis, probably Damaghan. At
this point of his narrative Marco Polo gives an account of the "Old
Man of the Mountain," the chief of the Mahometan sect called the
Hashishins, who were noted for their religious fanaticism and
terrible cruelty. He next visited the Khorassan town of Cheburgan, a
city celebrated for its sweet melons, and then the noble city of
Balkh, situated near the source of the Oxus. Next he crossed a
country infested by lions to Taikan, a great salt-market frequented
by a large number of merchants, and to Scasem; this town seems to be
the Kashme spoken of by Marsden, the Kishin or Krishin of
Hiouen-Tsang, which Sir Henry Rawlinson has identified with the hill
of Kharesm of Zend-Avesta, that some commentators think must be the
modern Koundouz. In this part of the country he says porcupines
abound, and when they are hunted they curl themselves up, darting
out the prickles on their sides and backs at the dogs that are
hunting them. We now know how much faith to put in this pretended
power of defence said to be possessed by the porcupine.
Marco Polo now entered the rocky mountainous kingdom of the Balkhs,
whose kings claim descent from Alexander the Great; a cold country,
producing good fast horses, excellent falcons, and all kinds of game.
Here, too, are prolific ruby-mines worked by the king and which
yield large quantities, but they are so strictly enclosed that no
one on pain of death may set foot on the Sighinan mountain
containing the mines. In other places silver is found, and many
precious stones, of which he says "they make the finest azure in the
world," meaning lapis-lazuli; his stay in this part of the country
must have been a long one to have enabled him to observe so many of
its characteristics. Ten days' journey from hence he entered a
province which must be the Peshawur of the present day, whose
dark-skinned inhabitants were idolaters; then after seven days'
further march, about mid-day he came to the kingdom of Cashmere,
where the temperature is cool, and towns and villages are very
numerous. Had Marco Polo continued his route in the same direction
he would soon have reached the territory of India, but instead of
that he took a northerly course, and in twelve days was in Vaccan, a
land watered by the Upper Oxus, which runs through splendid pastures,
where feed immense flocks of wild sheep, called mufflons. Thence he
went through a mountainous country, lying between the Altai and
Himalayan ranges to Kashgar. Here Marco Polo's route is the same as
that of his uncle and his father during their first voyage, when
from Bokhara they were taken to the residence of the great khan.
From Kashgar, Marco Polo diverged a little to the west, to Samarcand,
a large town inhabited by Saracens and Christians, then to Yarkand,
a city frequented by caravans trading between India and Northern
Asia; passing by Khotan, the capital of the province of that name,
and by Pein, a town whose situation is uncertain, but in a part of
the country where chalcedony and jasper abound. He came to the
kingdom of Kharachar, which extends along the borders of the desert
of Jobe; then after five days' further travelling over sandy plains,
where there was no water fit to drink, he rested for eight days in
the city of Lob, a place now in ruins, while he prepared to cross
the desert lying to the east, "so great a desert," he says, "that it
would require a year to traverse its whole length, a haunted
wilderness, where drums and other instruments are heard, though
invisible."
After spending a year crossing this desert, Marco Polo reached
Tcha-tcheou, in the province of Tangaut, a town built on the western
limits of the Chinese empire. There are but few merchants here, the
greater part of the population being agricultural. The custom that
seems to have struck him the most in the province of Tangaut, was
that of burning their dead only on a day fixed by the astrologers;
"all the time that the dead remain in their houses, the relations
stay there with them, preparing a place at each meal as well as
providing both food and drink for the corpse, as though it were
still alive."
Marco Polo and his companions made an excursion to the north-east,
to the city of Amil, going on as far as Ginchintalas, a town
inhabited by idolaters, Mahometans, and Nestorian Christians, whose
situation is disputed. From this town Marco Polo returned to
Tcha-tcheou, and went eastward across Tangaut, by the town of So-ceu,
over a tract of country particularly favourable to the cultivation
of rhubarb, and by Kanpiceon, the Khan-tcheou of the Chinese, then
the capital of the province of Tangaut, an important town, whose
numerous chiefs are idolaters and polygamists. The three Venetians
remained a year in this large city; it is easy to understand, from
their long halts and deviations, why they required three years for
their journey across Central Asia.
They left Khan-tcheou, and after riding for twelve days they reached
the borders of a sandy desert, and entered the city of Etzina. This
was another detour, as it lay directly north of their route, but
they wished to visit Kara-Korum, the celebrated capital of Tartary,
where Rubruquis had been in 1254. Marco Polo was certainly an
explorer by nature; fatigue was nothing to him if he had any
geographical studies to complete, which is proved by his spending
forty days crossing an uninhabited desert without vegetation, in
order to reach the Tartar town.
When he arrived there, he found a city measuring three miles in
circumference, which had been for a long time the capital of the
Empire, before it was conquered by Gengis-Khan, the grandfather of
the reigning emperor. Here Marco Polo makes an historical digression,
in which he gives an account of the wars of the Tartar chiefs
against the famous Prester John who held all this part of the
country under his dominion.
Marco Polo after returning to Khan-tcheou left it again, marching
five days towards the east, and arriving at the town of Erginul.
Thence he went a little to the south to visit Sining-foo, across a
tract of country where grazed great wild oxen and the valuable
species of goat which is called the "musk-bearer." Returning to
Erginul, they went eastward to Cialis, where there is the best
manufactory of cloth made from camels' hair in the world, to Tenduc,
a town in the province of the same name, where a descendant of
Prester John reigned, but who had given in his submission to the
great khan; this was a busy flourishing town: from hence the
travellers went to Sinda-tchou, and on beyond the great wall of
China as far as Ciagannor, which must be Tzin-balgassa, a pretty
town where the emperor lives when he wishes to hawk; for cranes,
storks, pheasants, and partridges abound in this neighbourhood.
At last Marco Polo, his father, and his uncle, reached Ciandu or
Tchan-tchou of the present day, called elsewhere in this narrative
Clemen-foo. Here Kublai-Khan received the papal envoys, for he was
occupying his summer palace beyond the great wall, north of Pekin,
which was then the capital of the empire. The traveller does not
tell us what reception he met with, but he describes most carefully
the palace, the grandeur of the building of stone and marble,
standing in the middle of a park surrounded by walls, enclosing
menageries and fountains. Also a building made of reeds, so closely
interlaced as to be impenetrable to water; it was a sort of movable
kiosk that the great khan inhabited during the fine months of June,
July, and August. The weather during the emperor's sojourn in this
summer palace could not but be beautiful, for, according to Marco
Polo, the astrologers who were attached to the khan's court were
charged to scatter all rain and fog by their sorcery, and the
travellers seem to believe in the power of these magicians. "These
astrologers," he says, "belong to two races, both idolaters; they
are learned in all magic and enchantments, above any other men, and
what they do is done by the aid of the devil, but they make others
believe that they owe their power to the help of God, and their own
holiness. These people have the following strange custom: when a man
has been condemned and put to death, they take the body, cook, and
eat it; but in the case of a natural death they do not eat the body.
And you must know that these people of whom I am speaking, who know
so many kinds of enchantments, work the wonder I am about to relate.
When the great khan is seated at dinner in the principal dining-hall,
the table of which is eight cubits in length, and the cups are on
the floor ten paces from the table, filled with wine, milk, and
other good beverages, these clever magicians, by their arts, make
these cups rise by themselves, and without any one touching them,
they are placed before the great khan. This has been done before an
immense number of people, and is the exact truth; and those skilled
in necromancy will tell you that it is quite possible to do this."
Marco Polo next gives a history of Kublai, whom he considers to
possess more lands and treasures than any man since our first father,
Adam. He tells how the great khan ascended the throne in the year
1256, being then eighty-five; he was a man of middle height, rather
stout, but of a fine figure, with a good complexion and black eyes.
He was a good commander in war, and his talents were put to the
proof when his uncle Naian, having rebelled against him, wished to
dispute his power at the head of 400,000 cavalry. Kublai-Khan
collected (in secret) a force of 300,000 horsemen, and 100,000
foot-soldiers, and marched against his uncle. The battle was a most
terrible one, so many men being killed, but the khan was victorious,
and Naian, as a prince of the blood royal, was condemned to be sewn
up tightly in a carpet, and died in great suffering. After his
victory the khan made a triumphal entry into Cathay, capital of
Cambaluc, or, as it is now called, Pekin. When Marco Polo arrived at
this city he made a long stay there, remaining until the emperor
needed his services to undertake various missions into the interior
of China. The emperor had a splendid palace at Cambaluc, and the
traveller gives so graphic an account of the riches and magnificence
of the Mongol sovereigns, that we give it word for word. "The palace
is surrounded by a great wall, a mile long each way, four miles in
length altogether, very thick, ten feet in height, all white and
battlemented. At each corner of this wall is a palace beautiful and
rich, in which all the trappings of war belonging to the great khan
are kept; his bows, quivers, the saddles and bridles of the horses,
the bow-strings, in fact everything that would be wanted in time of
war; in the midst of each square is another building, like those at
the corner, so that there are eight in all, and each building
contains one particular kind of harness or trapping. In the wall on
the south side are five doors, the middle or large door only being
opened when the emperor wishes to go in or out; near this great gate
on either side is a smaller one through which other people may pass,
and two others for the same purpose. Inside this wall is another,
having also eight buildings to be used in the same manner."
[Illustration: Plan of Pekin.]
Thus we see that all these buildings constituted the emperor's
armoury and harness-store; we shall not be surprised that there was
so much harness to be kept when we know that the emperor possessed a
race of horses white as snow, and among them ten thousand mares,
whose milk was reserved for the sole use of princes of the blood
royal.
[Illustration: The Emperor's palace at Pekin.]
Marco Polo continues his narrative thus:--"The inner wall has five
gates on the south side, answering to those in the outer wall, but
on the other sides the walls have only one gate each. In the centre
of the enclosure made by these walls, stands the palace, the largest
in the world. It has no second story, but the ground-floor is raised
about eight feet above the ground. The roof is very high, the walls
of the rooms are covered with gold and silver, and on this gold and
silver are paintings of dragons, birds, horses, and other animals,
so that nothing can be seen but gilding and pictures. The
dining-hall is large enough to hold 6000 men, and the number of
other rooms is marvellous, and all is so well arranged that it could
not be improved. The ceilings are painted vermillion, green, blue,
yellow, and all kinds of colours, varnished so as to shine like
crystal, and the roof is so well built that it will last for many
years. Between the two walls the land is laid out in fields with
fine trees in them, containing different species of animals, the
musk-ox, white deer, roe-buck, fallow-deer, and other animals, who
fill the space between the walls, except the roads reserved for
human beings. On the north-western side is a great lake, full of
fishes of divers kinds, for the great khan has had several species
placed there, and each time that he desires it to be done, he has
his will in it. A river rises in this lake and flows out from the
grounds of the palace, but no fish escape in it, there being iron
and brass nets to prevent their doing so. On the northern side, near
an arched doorway, the emperor has had a mound made, a hundred feet
in height and more than a mile in circumference; it is covered with
evergreen trees, and the emperor, being very fond of horticulture,
whenever he hears of a fine tree, sends for it and has it brought by
his elephants, with the roots and surrounding soil, the size of the
tree being no impediment, and thus he has the finest collection of
trees in the world. The hill is called 'green hill,' from its being
covered with evergreen trees and green turf, and on the top of the
hill is a house. This hill is altogether so beautiful that it is the
admiration of every one."
After Marco Polo has concluded his description of this palace, he
gives one of that of the emperor's son and heir; then he speaks of
the town of Cambaluc, the old town which is separated from the
modern town of Taidu by a canal, the same which divides the Chinese
and Tartar quarters of Pekin. The traveller gives many particulars
of the emperor's habits, and among other things, he says that
Kublai-Khan has a body-guard of 2000 horse-soldiers; but he adds,
"it is not fear that causes him to keep this guard." His meals are
real ceremonies, and etiquette is most rigidly enforced. His table
is raised above the others, and he always sits on the north side
with his principal wife on his right, and lower down his sons,
nephews, and relations; he is waited upon by noble barons, who are
careful to envelope their mouths and noses in fine cloth of gold,
"so that their breath and their odour may not contaminate the food
or drink of their lord." When the emperor is about to drink, a band
of music plays, and when he takes the cup in his hand, all the
barons and every one present, fall on their knees.
The principal fetes given by the grand khan were on the anniversary
of his birth, and on the first day of the year. At the first, 12,000
barons were accustomed to assemble round the throne, and to them
were presented annually 150,000 garments made of gold and silk and
ornamented with pearls, whilst the subjects, idolaters as well as
Christians, offered up public prayers. At the second of these fetes,
on the first day of the year, the whole population, men and women
alike, appeared dressed in white, following the tradition that white
brings good fortune, and every one brought gifts to the king of
great value. One hundred thousand richly-caparisoned horses, five
thousand elephants covered with handsome cloths and carrying the
imperial plate, as well as a large number of camels, passed in
procession before the emperor.
During the three winter months of December, January, and February,
when the khan is living in his winter palace, all the nobles within
a radius of sixty days' march are obliged to supply him with boars,
stags, fallow-deer, roes, and bears. Besides, Kublai is a great
huntsman himself, and his hunting-train is superbly mounted and kept
up. He has leopards, lynxes and fine lions trained to hunt for wild
animals, eagles strong enough to chase wolves, foxes, fallow and
roe-deer, and, as Marco Polo says, "often to take them too," and his
dogs may be counted by thousands. It is about March when the emperor
begins his principal hunting in the direction of the sea, and he is
accompanied by no less than 10,000 falconers, 500 gerfalcons, and
many goshawks, peregrine, and sacred falcons. During the hunting
excursion, a portable palace, covered outside with lions' skins and
inside with cloth of gold, and carried on four elephants harnessed
together, accompanies the emperor everywhere, who seems to enjoy all
this oriental pomp and display. He goes as far as the camp of
Chachiri-Mongou, which is situated on a stream, a tributary of the
river Amoor, and the tent is set up, which is large enough to hold
ten thousand nobles. This is his reception-saloon where he gives
audiences; and when he wishes to sleep he goes into a tent which is
hung all round with ermine and sable furs of almost priceless value.
The emperor lives thus till about Easter, hunting cranes, swans,
hares, stags, roebucks, &c., and then returns to his capital,
Cambaluc.
Marco Polo now completes his description of this fine city and
enumerates the twelve quarters it contains, in many of which the
rich merchants have their palatial houses, for commerce flourishes
in this town, and more valuable merchandise is brought to it than to
any other in the world. It is the depot and market for the richest
productions of India, such as pearls and precious stones, and
merchants come from long distances round to purchase them. The khan
has established a mint here for the benefit of trade, and it is an
inexhaustible source of revenue to him. The bank-notes, sealed with
the emperor's seal, are made of a kind of card-board manufactured
from the bark of the mulberry-tree. The card-board thus prepared is
cut into various thicknesses according to the value of the money it
is supposed to represent. The currency of this money is enforced,
none daring to refuse it "on pain of death;" the emperor using it in
all his payments, and enforcing its circulation throughout his
dominions. Besides this, several times in the year the possessors of
precious stones, pearls, gold, or silver, are obliged to bring their
treasures to the mint and receive in exchange for them these pieces
of card-board, so that, in fact, the emperor becomes the possessor
of all the riches in his empire.
According to Marco Polo the system of the Imperial Government was
wonderfully centralized. "The kingdom is divided into thirty-four
provinces, and is governed by twelve of the greatest barons living
in Cambaluc; in the same palace also reside the intendants and
secretaries, who conduct the business of each province. From this
central city a great number of roads diverge to the various parts of
the kingdom, and on these roads are now post-houses stationed at
intervals of twenty-two miles, where well-mounted messengers are
always ready to carry the emperor's messages. Besides this, at every
three miles on the road there is a little hamlet of about fourteen
houses where the couriers live, who carry messages on foot; these
men wear a belt round their waists and have a girdle with bells
attached to it, that are heard at a long distance; they start at a
gallop, quickly accomplishing the three miles and giving the message
to the courier who is waiting for it at the next hamlet; thus the
emperor receives news from places at long distances from the capital
in a comparatively short time." This mode of communication also
involved but small expense to Kublai-Khan, as the only remuneration
he gave these couriers was their exemption from taxation, and as to
the horses, they were furnished gratuitously by the provinces.
But if the emperor used his power in this manner to lay heavy
burdens upon his subjects, he exerted himself actively for their
good, and was always ready to help them; for instance, when their
crops were damaged by hail-storms, he not only remitted all taxes,
but gave them corn from his own stores, and when there was any great
mortality among the flocks and herds in any particular province, he
always replaced them at his own expense. He was careful to have a
large quantity of wheat, barley, millet, and rice, stored up in
years of abundant harvest, so as to keep the price of grain at a
uniform rate when the harvest failed. He was particularly careful of
the poor who lived in Cambaluc. "He had a list made of all the
poorest houses in the town, where they were usually short of food,
and supplied them liberally with wheat and other grain according to
the size of their families, and bread was never refused to any
applying at the palace for it; it is computed that at least 30,000
persons avail themselves of this daily throughout the year. His
kindness to his poor subjects makes them almost worship him." The
whole affairs of the empire are administered with great care, the
roads well kept up and planted with fine trees, so that from a
distance their direction can easily be traced. There is no want of
wood, and in Cathay they work a number of coal-pits which supply
abundance of coal.
[Illustration: Map of the world according to Marco Polo's ideas.]
Marco Polo remained a long time at Cambaluc, and his intelligence,
spirit, and readiness in adapting himself, made him a great
favourite with the emperor. He was intrusted with various missions,
not only in China, but also to places on the coast of India, Ceylon,
the Coromandel and Malabar coasts, and a part of Cochin-China near
Cambogia, and between the years 1277 and 1280 he was made governor
of Yang-tcheou, and of twenty-seven other towns which were joined
with it under the same government. Thanks to the missions on which
he was sent, he travelled over an immense extent of country, and
gained a great amount of ethnological and geographical knowledge. We
can now follow him map in hand through some of these journeys, which
were of the greatest service to science.
III.
MARCO POLO.
Tso-cheu--Tai-yen-fou--Pin-yang-fou--The Yellow River--Signan-fou--
Szu-tchouan--Ching-tu-fou--Thibet--Li-kiang-fou--Carajan--
Yung-tchang--Mien--Bengal--Annam--Tai-ping--Cintingui--Sindifoo--
Te-cheu--Tsi-nan-fou--Lin-tsin-choo--Lin-sing--Mangi--Yang-tcheu-fou--
Towns on the coast--Quin-say or Hang-tcheou-foo--Fo-kien.
When Marco Polo had been at Cambaluc some time, he was sent on a
mission that kept him absent from the capital for four months. Ten
miles southwards from Cambaluc, he crossed the fine river Pe-ho-nor
(which he calls the Pulisanghi), by a stone bridge of twenty-four
arches, and 300 feet in length, which was then without parallel in
the world. Thirty miles further on he came to the town of Tso-cheu,
where a large trade in sandal-wood is carried on; at ten days'
journey from hence he came to the modern town of Tai-yen-fou, which
was once the seat of an independent government. All the province of
Shan-si seemed rich in vines and mulberry-trees; the principal
industry in the towns was the making of armour for the emperor's use.
[Illustration: A fine bridge of stone built on twenty-four arches.]
Seven days' journey further on they came to the beautiful commercial
city of Pianfou, now called Pin-yang-foo, where the manufacture of
silk was carried on. He soon afterwards came to the banks of the
Yellow River, which he calls Caramoran or Black River, probably on
account of its waters being darkened by the aquatic plants growing
in them; at two days' journey from hence he came to the town of
Cacianfu, whose position is not now clearly defined. He found
nothing remarkable in this town, and leaving it he rode across a
beautiful country, covered with towns, country-houses, and gardens,
and abounding in game.
In eight days he reached the fine city of Quangianfoo, the ancient
capital of the Tang dynasty, now called Signanfoo, and the capital
of Shensi; here reigned Prince Mangalai, the emperor's son, an
upright and amiable prince, much loved by his people. He lived in a
magnificent palace outside the town, built in the midst of a park,
of which the battlemented wall cannot have been less than five miles
in circumference.
From Signanfoo, the traveller went towards Thibet, across the modern
province of Szu-tchouan, a mountainous country intersected by deep
valleys, where lions, bears, lynxes, &c., abounded, and after
twenty-eight days' march he found himself on the borders of the
great plain of Acmelic-mangi. This is a fertile country and produces
all kinds of vegetation; ginger is especially cultivated; there is
sufficient to supply all the province of Cathay, and so fertile is
the soil that according to a French traveller, M. E. Simon, an acre
is now worth 15,000 francs, or three francs the metre. In the
thirteenth century this plain was covered with towns and
country-houses, and the inhabitants lived upon the fruits of the
ground, and the produce of their flocks and herds, while the large
quantity of game furnished hunters with abundant occupation.
Marco Polo next visited the town of Sindafou (now Tching-too-foo),
the capital of the province of Se-tchu-an, whose population at the
present day exceeds 1,500,000 souls. Sindafu, measuring at that time
twenty miles round, was divided into three parts, each surrounded
with its own wall, and each part had a king of its own before
Kublai-Khan took possession of the town. The great river Kiang ran
through the town: it contained large quantities of fish, and from
its size resembled a sea more than a river; its waters were covered
by a vast number of vessels. Five days after leaving this busy,
thriving town Marco Polo reached the province of Thibet, which he
says "is very desolate, for it has been destroyed by the war."
Thibet abounds in lions, bears, and other savage animals, from which
the travellers would have much difficulty in defending themselves
had it not been for the quantity of large thick canes that grow
there, which are probably bamboos: he says, "the merchants and
travellers passing through these countries at night collect a
quantity of these canes and make a large fire of them, for when they
are burning they make such a noise and crackle so much, that the
lions, bears, and other wild beasts take flight to a distance, and
would not approach these fires on any account; thus both men, horses,
and camels are safe. In another way, too, protection is afforded by
throwing a number of these canes on a wood fire, and when they
become heated and split, and the sap hisses, the sound is heard at
least ten miles off. When any one is not accustomed to this noise,
it is so terrifying that even the horses will break away from their
cords and tethers; so their owners often bandage their eyes and tie
their feet together to prevent their running away." This method of
burning canes is still used in countries where the bamboo grows, and
indeed the noise may be compared to the loudest explosion of
fire-works.
According to Marco Polo, Thibet is a very large province, having its
own language; and its inhabitants, who are idolaters, are a race of
bold thieves. A large river, the Khin-cha-kiang, flows over
auriferous sands through the province; a quantity of coral is found
in it which is much used for idols, and for the adornment of the
women. Thibet was at this time under the dominion of the great khan.
The traveller took a westerly direction when he left Sindafou, and
crossing the kingdom of Gaindu he must have come to Li-kiang-foo,
the capital of the country that is now called Tsi-mong. In this
province he visited a beautiful lake which produces pearl-oysters;
the fishing is the emperor's property; he also found great
quantities of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and other spices under
cultivation.
After leaving the province of Gaindu, and crossing a large river,
probably the Irrawaddy, Marco Polo took a south-easterly course to
the province of Carajan, which probably forms the north-western part
of Yunnan. According to his account all the inhabitants of this
province, who are mostly great riders, live on the raw flesh of
fowls, sheep, buffaloes, and oxen; the rich seasoning their raw meat
with garlic sauce and good spices. This country is infested with
great adders, and serpents, "hideous to look upon." These reptiles,
probably alligators, were ten feet long, had two legs armed with
claws, and with their large heads and great jaws could at one gulp
swallow a man.
Five days' journey west of Carajan, Marco Polo took a new route to
the south, and entered the province of Zardandan, whose capital
Nocian, is the modern town of Yung-chang. All the inhabitants of the
city had teeth of gold; that is to say, they covered their teeth
with little plates of gold which they removed before eating. The men
of this province employed themselves only in hunting, catching birds,
and making war, the hard work all devolving upon the women and
slaves. These Zardanians have neither idols nor churches, but they
each worship their ancestor, the patriarch of the family. Their
tradesmen carry their goods about on barrows like the bakers in
France. They have no doctors, but only enchanters, who jump, dance,
and play musical instruments around the invalid's bed till he either
dies or recovers.
[Illustration: Marco Polo in the midst of the forests.]
Leaving these people with gilded teeth, Marco Polo took the great
road which conveys all the traffic between India and Indo-China, and
passed by Bhamo, where a market is held three times a week, which
attracts merchants from the most distant countries. After riding for
fifteen days through forests filled with elephants, unicorns, and
other wild animals, he came to the great city of Mien; that is to
say, to that part of Upper Burmah, of which the present capital, of
recent erection, is called Amarapura. This city of Mien, which may
be, perhaps, the old town of Ava now in ruins, or the old town of
Paghan situated on the Irrawaddy, possessed a veritable
architectural marvel, in two towers, one built of fine stone, and
entirely covered with a coating of gold about an inch in thickness,
and the other, also of stone, coated with silver, both intended to
serve as a tomb for the king of Mien, before his kingdom fell under
the dominion of the khan. After visiting this province, the
traveller went to Bangala, the Bengal of the present day, which at
this time, 1290, did not belong to Kublai-Khan. The emperor's forces
were then engaged in trying to conquer this fertile country, rich in
cotton plants, in sugar-canes, &c., and whose magnificent oxen were
like elephants in height. From thence, the traveller ventured as far
as the city of Cancigu, in the province of the same name, probably
the modern town of Kassaye. The natives here tattooed their bodies,
and with needles drew pictures of lions, dragons, and birds on their
faces, necks, bellies, hands, legs, and bodies, and he who had the
greatest number of these pictures they considered the most beautiful
of human beings.
Cancigu was the most southerly point visited by Marco Polo, during
this journey. Leaving this city, he went towards the north-east, and
by the country of Amu, Anam, and Tonkin, he reached Toloman, now
called Tai-ping, after fifteen days' march. There he found that fine
race of men, of dark colour, who have crowned their mountains with
strong castles, and whose ordinary food is the flesh of animals,
milk, rice, and spices.
On leaving Toloman, he followed the course of a river for twelve
days, and found numerous towns on its banks. Here, as M. Charton
truly observes, the traveller is leaving the country known as India
beyond the Ganges, and returning towards China. In fact, Marco Polo
after leaving Toloman visited the province of Guigui with its
capital of the same name, and what struck him most in this country,
(and we cannot but think that the bold explorer was also a keen
hunter) was the great number of lions that were to be seen about its
mountains and plains. Only, commentators are of opinion that the
lions he speaks of must have been tigers, for no lions are found in
China, but we will give his own words: he says, "There are so many
lions in this country, that it is not safe to sleep out of doors for
fear of being devoured. And when you are on the river and stop for
the night, you must be careful to anchor far from land, for
otherwise the lions come to the vessel, seize upon a man, and devour
him. The inhabitants of this part of the country are well aware of
this, and so take measures to guard against it. These lions are very
large and very dangerous, but there are dogs in this country brave
enough to attack these lions; it requires two dogs and a man to
overcome each lion."
From this province Marco Polo returned to Sindifu, the capital of
the province of Se-chuen, whence he had started on his excursion
into Thibet; and retracing the route by which he had set out, he
returned to Kublai-Khan, after having brought his mission to
Indo-China to a satisfactory termination. It was probably at this
time that the traveller was first entrusted by the emperor with
another mission to the south-east of China. M. Pauthier, in his fine
work upon the Venetian traveller, speaks of this south-easterly part
of China as "the richest and most flourishing quarter of this vast
empire and that also about which, since the 16th century, Europeans
have had the most information."
As we return to the route that M. Pauthier has traced on his map, we
find that Marco Polo went southwards to Ciangli, probably the town
of Ti-choo, and at six days' journey from thence he came to
Condinfoo, the present city of Tsi-nan, the capital of the province
of Shan-tung, the birthplace of Confucius. It was at that time a
fine town and much frequented by silk-merchants, and its beautiful
gardens produced abundance of excellent fruit. Three days' march
from hence, the traveller came to the town of Lin-tsing, standing at
the mouth of the Yu-ho canal, the principal rendezvous for the
innumerable boats that carry so much merchandise to the provinces of
Mangi and Cathay. Eight days afterwards he passed by Ligui, which
seems to correspond to the modern town of Lin-tsin, and the town of
Piceu, the first city in the province of Tchang-su; then by the town
of Cingui, he arrived at Caramoran, the Yellow River, which he had
crossed higher up when he was on his way to Indo-China; here Marco
Polo was not more than a league from the mouth of this great river.
After crossing it he was in the province of Mangi, a territory
included in the Empire of the Soongs.
Before this province of Mangi belonged to Kublai-Khan it was
governed by a very pacific king, who shunned war, and was very
merciful to all his subjects. Marco Polo describes him so well that
we will quote his own words. "This last emperor of the Soong dynasty
was most generous, and I will cite but two noble traits to show
this; every year he had nearly 20,000 infants brought up at the
royal charge, for it was the custom in these provinces, when a poor
woman could not bring up a child herself, to cast it away as soon as
it was born, to die. The king had all these children taken care of,
and a record kept of the sign and the planet under which each was
born, and then they were sent to different places to be brought up,
for there are a quantity of nurses. When a rich man had no sons, he
came to the king and asked of him some of his wards, who were
immediately given to him. As the children grew up they intermarried,
and the king gave them sufficient incomes to live upon. When he went
through his dominions and saw a small house among several much
larger ones, he inquired why this house was smaller than those near
it, and if he found it was on account of the poverty of the owner,
he immediately had it made as large as the others at his own expense.
He was always waited upon by a thousand pages and a thousand girls.
He kept up such rigorous discipline throughout his kingdom that
there was never any crime; at night, houses and shops remained open,
and nothing was taken from them, and travelling was as safe by night
as by day."
Marco Polo came first to the town of Coigangui, now called Hoang-fou,
on the banks of the Yellow River, where the principal industry is
the preparation of the salt found in the salt marshes. One day's
journey from this town he came to Pau-in-chen, famous for its cloth
of gold, and the town of Caiu, now Kao-yu, whose inhabitants are
clever fishermen and hunters, then to the city of Tai-cheu, where
numerous vessels are generally to be found, and at last to the city
of Yangui.
This town of Yangui, of which Marco Polo was the governor for three
years, is the modern Yang-tchou; it is a very populous and busy town,
and cannot be less than two leagues in circumference. It was from
Yangui that the traveller set out on the various expeditions which
enabled him to see so much of the inland and sea-coast towns.
First, the traveller went westward to Nan-ghin, which must not be
confounded with Nan-kin of the present day. Its modern name is
Ngan-khing, and it stands in the midst of a remarkably fertile
province. Further on in the same direction he came to Saianfu, which
is now called Siang-yang, and is built in the northern part of the
province of Hou-pe. This was the last town in the province of Mangi
that resisted the dominion of Kublai-Khan; he besieged it for three
years, and he owed his taking it at last to the help of the three
Polos, who constructed some powerful balistas and crushed the
besieged under a perfect hail-storm of stones, some of which weighed
as much as three hundred pounds. From Saianfu Marco Polo retraced
his steps that he might visit some of the towns on the sea-coast. He
visited Kui-kiang on the river Kiang, which is very broad here, and
upon which 5000 ships can sail at the same moment; Kain-gui, which
supplies the Emperor's palace with corn; Ching-kiang where are two
Nestorian Christian churches; Ginguigui, now Tchang-tcheou, a busy
thriving city; and Singui, now called Soo-choo, a large town, which,
according to the very exaggerated account of the Venetian traveller,
has no less than 6000 bridges.
After spending some time at Vugui, probably Hou-tcheou, and at
Ciangan, now Kia-hing, Marco Polo reached the fine city of Quinsay,
after three days' march. This name means the "City of Heaven," but
it is now called Hang-chow-foo. It is six leagues round; the river
Tsien-tang-kiang flows through it, and by its constant windings,
makes Quinsay almost a second Venice. This ancient capital of the
Soongs is almost as populous as Pekin; its streets are paved with
stones and bricks, and if we may credit Marco Polo's statement, it
contained "600,000 houses, 4000 bathing establishments, and 12,000
stone bridges." In this city dwell the richest merchants in the
world with their wives, who are "beautiful and angelic creatures."
It is the residence of a viceroy, who has besides, 140 other cities
under his dominion. Here was to be seen also the palace of the Mangi
sovereigns surrounded by beautiful gardens, lakes, and fountains,
the palace itself containing more than a thousand rooms. Kublai-Khan
draws immense revenues from this town and province, and it is by
tens of thousands of pounds we must reckon the income derived from
the sugar, salt, spices, and silk, which form the principal
productions of this country. At one day's journey south from Quinsay,
Marco Polo visited Chao-hing, Vugui, or Hou-tcheou, Ghengui or
Kui-tcheou, Cianscian or Yo-tcheou-fou (according to M. Charton),
and Soni-tchang-fou (according to M. Pauthier), and Cugui or
Kiou-tcheou, the last town in the kingdom of Quinsay; thence he
entered the kingdom of Fugui, whose chief town of the same name is
now called Fou-tcheou-foo, the capital of the province of Fo-kien.
According to Marco Polo, the inhabitants of this province are a
cruel warlike race, never sparing their enemies, of whom, after they
have killed them, they drink the blood and eat the flesh. After
passing by Quenlifu, now Kien-ning-foo, and Unguen, the traveller
entered Fugui, probably the modern town of Kuant-tcheou (called
Canton amongst us), and the chief town of the province, where a
large trade in pearls and precious stones was carried on, and in
five days he reached the port of Zaitem, probably the Chinese town
of Tsiuen-tcheou, which was the extreme point reached by him in this
exploration of south-eastern China.
IV.
MARCO POLO.
Japan--Departure of the three Venetians with the Emperor's daughter
and the Persian ambassadors--Sai-gon--Java--Condor--Bintang--
Sumatra--The Nicobar Islands--Ceylon--The Coromandel coast--The
Malabar coast--The Sea of Oman--The island of Socotra--Madagascar--
Zanzibar and the coast of Africa--Abyssinia--Yemen--Hadramaut and
Oman--Ormuz--The return to Venice--A feast in the household of
Polo--Marco Polo a Genoese prisoner--Death of Marco Polo about 1323.
Marco Polo returned to the court of Kublai-Khan when he had finished
the expedition of which we spoke in the last chapter. He was then
entrusted with several other missions, in which he found his
knowledge of the Turkish, Chinese, Mongolian, and Mantchorian
languages of the greatest use. He seems to have taken part in an
expedition to the islands in the Indian Ocean, and he brought back a
detailed account of this hitherto little known sea. There is a want
of clearness as to dates at this part of his life, which makes it
difficult to give a correct narrative of these voyages in their
right order. He gives a circumstantial account of the Island of
Cipango, a name applying to the group of islands which make up
Japan; but it does not appear that he actually entered that kingdom.
This country was famous for its wealth, and about 1264, some years
before Marco Polo arrived at the Tartar court, Kublai-Khan had tried
to conquer it and sent his fleet there with that purpose. They had
taken possession of a citadel and put all its valiant defenders to
the edge of the sword, but just at the moment of apparent victory a
storm arose and dispersed all the enemy's fleet, and thus the
expedition was useless. Marco Polo gives a long account of this
attempt, and adds many curious particulars as to Japanese customs.
Marco Polo, with his father and uncle, had now been seventeen years
in the service of Kublai-Khan, and even longer absent from their own
country; they had a great wish to revisit it, but the Emperor had
become so much attached to them, and valued their services so highly,
that he could not make up his mind to part with them. He tried in
every way to shake their resolution, offering them riches and honour
if only they would remain with him, but they still held to their
plan of returning to Europe; the Emperor then absolutely refused to
allow them to go, and Marco Polo could find no means of eluding the
surveillance of which he was the object, until circumstances arose
which quite changed Kublai-Khan's resolution.
A Mongol prince, named Arghun, whose dominions were in Persia, had
sent an ambassador to the Emperor to ask one of the princesses of
the blood royal, in marriage. Kublai-Khan acceded to his request and
sent off his daughter Cogatra to Prince Arghun, attended by a
numerous suite; but the countries by which they endeavoured to
travel were not safe; the caravan was soon stopped by disturbances
and rebellions, and after some months was obliged to return to the
Emperor's palace. The Persian ambassadors had heard Marco Polo
spoken of as a clever navigator who had had some experience of the
Indian Ocean, and they begged the Emperor to confide the Princess
Cogatra to his care, that he might conduct her to her future husband,
thinking that the voyage by sea would probably be attended by less
danger than a land journey.
After some demur Kublai-Khan acceded to their request, and equipped
a fleet of forty four-masted vessels, provisioning them for two
years. Some of these were very large, having a crew of 250 men, for
this was an important expedition worthy of the opulent Emperor of
China. Matteo, Nicolo, and Marco Polo set out with the Chinese
princess and the Persian ambassadors, and it was during this voyage,
which lasted eighteen months, that it seems most probable that Marco
Polo visited the islands of Sunda and other islands in the Indian
Ocean, as well as Ceylon and the towns on the coast of India. We
will follow him in his voyage and give his description of the places
that he visited in this hitherto little known portion of the globe.
[Illustration: Kublai-Khan equips a fleet.]
It must have been about 1291 or 1292 that the fleet left the port of
Zaitem, under the command of Marco Polo. He steered first for
Tchampa, a great country situated at the south of Cochin China, and
which contains the present province of Saigon, belonging to France.
This was not a new country to Marco Polo, as he had visited it about
1280, when he was on a mission for the Emperor. At this time,
Tchampa was under the dominion of the grand khan, and paid him an
annual tribute in elephants; when Marco Polo visited this country
before its conquest by Kublai-Khan, he found the reigning king had
no less than 326 children, of whom 150 were old enough to carry arms.
Leaving the peninsula of Cambodia, the fleet went in the direction
of Java, the rich island that Kublai-Khan had never been able to
subjugate, where abundance of pepper, cloves, nutmegs, &c., grew.
After putting into port at Condor and Sandur, at the extremity of
the peninsular of Cochin China, they reached the island of Pentam
(Bintang), situated near the eastern entrance of the straits of
Malacca, and the island of Sumatra, called Little Java. "This island
is so much in the south," he says, "that they never see there the
polar star," which is true as far as the inhabitants of the southern
part are concerned. It is very fertile, aloes growing most
luxuriantly; and here wild elephants and rhinoceroses (called by
Marco Polo unicorns) are found, and apes, too, in large numbers. The
fleet was detained five months on these shores by contrary winds,
and the traveller made the most of his time in visiting the
principal provinces of the island, such as Samara, Dagraian, and
Labrin (which boasts a great number of men with tails--evidently
apes), and the island of Fandur or Panchor, where the sago-tree
grows, from which a kind of flour is obtained that makes very good
bread.
At last the wind changed, and enabled the vessels to leave Little
Java, and after touching at Necaran, which must be one of the
Nicobar Islands, and at the Andaman group, whose inhabitants are
still cannibals, as they were in the time of Marco Polo, the fleet
took a south-westerly course and arrived on the coast of Ceylon.
"This island," says the traveller in his narrative, "was once much
larger, for according to the map of the world that the pilots of
these seas carry, it was once 3600 miles in circumference but the
north wind blows with such force in these parts that it caused a
part of the island to be submerged." This tradition is still held by
the inhabitants of Ceylon. Here are collected in abundance, rubies,
sapphires, topaz, amethysts, and other precious stones, such as
garnets, opals, agates, and sardonyx. The king of the country was
the possessor at this time of a most splendid ruby as long as the
palm of the hand, as thick as a man's arm, and red as fire, which
excited the envy of the grand khan, who vainly tried to induce its
possessor to part with it, offering a whole city in exchange, but
that could not tempt the King to let him have the jewel.
Sixty miles west of Ceylon the travellers came to Maabar, a great
province on the coast of India. This must not be mistaken for
Malabar, which is situated on the west coast of the Indian peninsula.
This Maabar forms the southern part of the Coromandel coast, and is
celebrated for its pearl fisheries. Here the magicians are at work,
and are said to render the monsters of the deep harmless to the
fishermen; they are astrologers whose race is perpetuated even to
modern times. Marco Polo gives some interesting details of the
customs of the natives, one is that when a king dies, the nobles
throw themselves into the fire in his honour; another strange custom
is that of the religious purifications twice every day, and their
blind faith in astrologers and diviners; he also speaks of the
frequency of religious suicides, and the sacrifice of widows whom
the funeral pile awaits on the death of their husbands. He also
notices the skill in physiognomy evinced by the natives.
The next resting-place of the fleet was Muftili, of which the
capital is now called Masulipatam, the chief city of the kingdom of
Golconda. This country was well governed by a queen, a widow for
forty years, who desired to remain faithful to the memory of her
husband. The country contained many valuable diamond mines, but
these were unfortunately among mountains where serpents abounded;
the miners had recourse to a strange device when collecting the
precious stones, to protect themselves from these reptiles, which we
may believe or not as we choose. Marco Polo says: "They take several
pieces of meat, and throw them among the pointed rocks, where no man
can go, and the meat, falling upon the diamonds, they become
attached to it. Now, among these mountains live a number of white
eagles, who hunt the serpents, and when they see the meat at the
foot of the precipices they swoop down and carry it away. At the
moment the men who have been following the eagles' movements see
them alight to eat the meat, they raise fearful cries, the meat is
dropped and the eagles take to flight, and thus the men have no
difficulty in taking the diamonds that are attached to the meat.
Diamonds are often found on the mountains, mingled with the
excrement of the eagles."
After visiting the small town of St. Thomas, situated some miles to
the south of Madras, where St. Thomas the apostle is said to be
buried, the travellers explored the kingdom of Maabar and especially
the province of Lar, from whence spring all the "_Abrahamites_" of
the world, probably the Brahmins. These men, he says, live to a
great age, owing to their abstinence and sobriety; some have been
known to attain 150 and even 200 years of age; their diet is
principally rice and milk, and they drink a mixture of sulphur and
quicksilver. These "Abrahamites" are clever merchants, superstitious,
however, but remarkably sincere, and never guilty of theft of any
kind; they never kill any living thing, and they worship the ox,
which is a sacred animal among them.
The fleet now returned to Ceylon, where in 1284 Kublai-Khan had sent
an ambassador who had brought him back some pretended relics of Adam,
and among other things two of his molar teeth; for, if we can
believe the Saracen traditions, the tomb of our first father must
have been on the summit of one of the precipitous mountains, which
forms the highest ground in the island. After losing sight of Ceylon,
Marco Polo went to Cail, a port that we do not find marked on any of
the modern maps, but a place where all the vessels touched coming
from Ormuz, Kiss, Aden, and the coasts of Arabia. Thence doubling
Cape Comorin they came to Coilum, now Quilon, which was a very
thriving city in the thirteenth century. It is there that a great
quantity of sandal-wood and indigo is found, and merchants come in
large numbers from the Levant and from the West to trade in both.
The country of Malabar produces a great quantity of rice, and wild
animals are found there, such as leopards, which Marco Polo calls
"black lions," also peacocks of much greater beauty than those of
Europe, as well as different kinds of parroquets.
The fleet, leaving Coilum, and advancing northwards along the
Malabar coast, arrived at the shores of the kingdom of Maundallay,
which derives its name from a mountain situated on the borders of
Kanara and Malabar; here pepper, ginger, saffron, and other spices
abound. To the north of this kingdom extended that country which the
Venetian traveller calls Melibar, and which is situated to the north
of Malabar proper. The vessels of the Mangalore merchants came here
to trade with the natives of this part of India for cargoes of
spices, a fine kind of cloth called buckram and other valuable
wares; but their vessels were frequently attacked, and too often
pillaged by the pirates who infested these seas, and who were justly
regarded as formidable enemies. These pirates principally inhabit
the peninsula of Gohourat, now called Gujerat, where the fleet was
on its way after calling at Tana--a country where is collected the
frankincense--and Canboat, now Kambay, a town where there is a great
trade in leather. Visiting Sumenath, a city of the peninsula, whose
inhabitants are cruel, ferocious, and idolaters, and Kesmacoran, the
modern city of Kedje, the capital of Makran, situated on the Indus
near the sea, and the last town in India on the northwest, Marco
Polo went westward across the sea of Oman, instead of going to
Persia, which was the destination of the princess.
His insatiable love of exploration led him 500 miles away to the
shores of Arabia, where he stopped at the Male and Female Islands,
so called from the men usually living on one island, and their wives
on the other. Thence they sailed to the south towards the island of
Socotra, at the entrance of the Gulf of Aden, which, Marco Polo
partially explored. He speaks of the inhabitants of Socotra as
clever magicians, who, by their enchantments, obtain the fulfilment
of all their wishes as well as the power of stilling storms and
tempests. Then, taking a southerly course of 1000 miles, he arrived
at the shores of Madagascar. This island appeared to him to be one
of the grandest in the world. Its inhabitants are very much occupied
with commerce, especially in elephants' tusks. They live principally
upon camels' flesh, which is better and more wholesome food than any
other. The merchants on their way from the coast of India are
usually only twenty days crossing the Sea of Oman; but when they
return they are often three months on the voyage on account of the
opposing currents which take them always southwards. Nevertheless,
they visit Madagascar very constantly, for there are whole forests
of sandal-wood, and amber is also found there, from which they can
obtain great profit by bartering it for gold and silk stuffs. Wild
animals and game are plentiful; according to Marco Polo, leopards,
bears, lions, wild boars, giraffes, wild asses, roebucks, deer,
stags, and cattle were to be found in great numbers; but what seemed
most marvellous of all to him was the fabulous griffin, the roc, of
which we hear so much in the "Thousand and one Nights," which is not,
he says, "an animal, half-lion and half-bird, able to raise and
carry away an elephant in its claws." It was probably the "_epyornis
maximus_," for some eggs of this bird are still to be found in
Madagascar.
[Illustration: This wonderful bird was probably the _epyornis
maximus_.]
From this island Marco Polo went in a north-westerly direction to
Zanzibar and the coast of Africa. The inhabitants seemed to him
remarkably stout, but strong and able to carry the burdens of four
ordinary men, "which is not strange," he says, "for they each eat as
much as five other men;" these natives were black and wore no
clothing, they had large mouths and turned-up noses, thick lips, and
large eyes, a description that agrees exactly with that of the
natives of that part of Africa now. They live upon rice, meat, milk,
and dates, and make a kind of wine of rice, sugar, and spices. They
are brave warriors and fearless of death; they are usually in war
mounted on camels and elephants, and armed with a leathern shield, a
sword, and a lance; they give their animals an intoxicating drink to
excite them on going into action.
In Marco Polo's time, says M. Charton, the countries comprised under
the title of India were divided into three parts; Greater India or
Hindostan, that is, the country lying between the Indus and the
Ganges; Lesser India, that is, all the country lying beyond the
Ganges, between the western coast of the peninsula and the coast of
Cochin China; lastly, Middle India, that is, Abyssinia and the
Arabian coast to the Persian Gulf. After leaving Zanzibar it was
Middle India whose coast Marco Polo explored, sailing towards the
north, and first Abassy or Abyssinia, a fertile country where the
manufacture of fine cotton cloths and buckram is largely carried on.
Then the fleet went to Zaila, almost at the entrance of the straits
of Bab-el-Mandeb, and at last by the coast of Yemen and Hadramaut
they came to Aden, the port frequented by all the ships trading with
India and China; then to Escier, whence a great quantity of fine
horses are exported; Dafar, which produces incense of the finest
quality, and Galatu, now Kalajate, on the coast of Oman; then to
Ormuz, that Marco Polo had visited once before when he was on his
way from Venice to the court of Kublai-Khan. This was the furthest
point that the fleet had to reach, as the princess was now on the
borders of Persia, after a voyage of eighteen months. But on their
arrival they were met by the sad news of the death of Prince Arghun,
the fiance of the princess, and they found the country involved in
civil war. The poor princess was put under the care of Prince Ghazan,
the son of Prince Arghun, who did not ascend the throne until 1295,
when his uncle, the usurper, was strangled. What became of the
princess we do not hear, but on parting with Nicolo, Matteo, and
Marco Polo, she bestowed on them great marks of favour. It was
probably during Marco Polo's residence in Persia that he collected
some curious documents upon Turkey in Asia; they are disconnected
pieces, which he gives at the close of his narrative, and they form
a genuine history of the Mongol Khans of Persia. His travels for
exploration were at an end, and after taking leave of the Tartar
princess, the three Venetians well escorted, and with all expenses
paid, set out on their way home. They went to Trebizond, then to
Constantinople, and thence to Negropont, where they embarked for
Venice.
It was in the year 1295, twenty-four years after leaving it, that
Marco Polo and his companions returned to their native town. They
were bronzed by exposure to the air and sun, coarsely clad in Tartar
costume, and both in manners and language were so much more
Mongolian than Venetian, that even their nearest relatives failed to
recognize them. Beyond this, a report had been widely spread that
they were dead, and it had gained so much credence that their
friends never expected to see them again. They went to their own
house in the part of Venice called St. John Chrysostom, and found it
occupied by different members of the Polo family, who received the
travellers with every mark of distrust, which their pitiable
appearance did not tend to lessen, and placed no faith in the
somewhat marvellous stories related to them by Marco Polo. After
some persuasion, however, they gained admittance into their own
house. When they had been a few days in Venice, the three travellers
gave a magnificent banquet, followed by a splendid fete, to do away
with any remaining doubts as to their identity. They invited the
nobility of Venice and all the members of their own family, and when
all the guests were assembled the three hosts appeared dressed in
crimson satin robes; the guests then entered the dining-room, and
the feast began. After the first course was over the three
travellers retired for a few moments and then reappeared, clad in
robes of splendid silk damask, which they proceeded to tear, and to
present each of their guests with a piece. After the second course
they dressed themselves in even more splendid robes of crimson
velvet, which they wore until the feast was over, when they appeared
in simple Venetian costume. The astonished guests marvelled at the
magnificence of these garments, and wondered what their hosts would
next show them; then the coarse rough clothes that they had worn on
the voyage were brought in, and when the linings and seams were
undone, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, and carbuncles of
great value were poured forth from them; great riches had been
hidden in these rags. This unexpected sight cleared away all doubt;
the three travellers were recognized at once as Marco, Nicolo, and
Matteo Polo, and congratulations upon their return were showered
upon them.
So celebrated a man as Marco Polo could not escape civic honours. He
was made first magistrate in Venice, and as he was continually
speaking of the "millions" of the Grand Khan, who commanded
"millions" of subjects, he gained the soubriquet of Signor Million.
It was about 1296 that a war broke out between Venice and Genoa. A
Genoese fleet under the command of Lamba Doria crossed the Adriatic,
and threatened the sea coast. The Venetian Admiral Andrea Dandolo
immediately manned a larger fleet and entrusted the command of a
galley to Marco Polo who was justly considered an able commander.
The Venetians were beaten in a naval battle on the 8th of September,
1296, and Marco Polo, badly wounded, fell into the hands of the
Genoese, who, knowing and appreciating the value of their prisoner,
treated him with great kindness. He was taken to Genoa, and there
met with a hearty welcome from the most distinguished people, who
were anxious to hear the account of his travels. It was during his
captivity, in 1298, that he made acquaintance with Pisano Rusticien,
and, tired of repeating his story again and again, dictated his
narrative to him.
About 1299 Marco Polo was set at liberty; he returned to Venice, and
there married. From this time we hear no more of the incidents of
his life, and only know from his will that he left three daughters;
he is thought to have died about the 9th of January, 1323, at the
age of seventy.
Such is the life of this celebrated traveller, whose narrative had a
marked influence on the progress of geographical science. He was
gifted with great power of observation, and could see and describe
equally well; and all later explorers have confirmed the truth of
his statements. Until the middle of the eighteenth century, the
documents founded on this narrative formed the basis of geographical
books, and were used as a guide in commercial expeditions to China,
India, and Central Asia. Posterity will concur in the suitability of
the title that the first copyists gave to Marco Polo's work, that of
"The Book of the Wonders of the World."