MARCO POLO
Now Venice at this time was full of enterprising merchants--merchants
such as we hear of in Shakspere's _Merchant of Venice_. Among these
were two Venetians, the brothers Polo. Rumours had reached them of
the wealth of the mysterious land of Cathay, of the Great Khan, of
Europeans making their way, as we have seen, through barren
wildernesses, across burning deserts in the face of hardships
indescribable, to open up a highway to the Far East.
So off started Maffio and Niccolo Polo on a trading enterprise, and,
having crossed the Mediterranean, came "with a fair wind and the
blessing of God" to Constantinople, where they disposed of a large
quantity of their merchandise. Having made some money, they directed
their way to Bokhara, where they fell in with a Tartar nobleman, who
persuaded them to accompany him to the Court of the Great Khan himself.
Ready for adventure, they agreed, and he led them in a north-easterly
direction; now they were delayed by heavy snows, now by the swelling
of unbridged rivers, so that it was a year before they reached Pekin,
which they considered was the extremity of the East. They were
courteously received by the Great Khan, who questioned them closely
about their own land, to which they replied in the Tartar language
which they had learnt on the way.
Now since the days of Friar John there was a new Khan named Kublai,
who wished to send messengers to the Pope to beg him to send a hundred
wise men to teach the Chinese Christianity. He chose the Polo brothers
as his envoys to the Pope, and accordingly they started off to fulfil
his behests. After an absence of fifteen years they again reached
Venice. The very year they had left home Niccolo's wife had died, and
his boy, afterwards to become the famous traveller, Marco Polo, had
been born. The boy was now fifteen.
[Illustration: HOW THE BROTHERS POLO SET OUT FROM CONSTANTINOPLE WITH
THEIR NEPHEW MARCO FOR CHINA. From a miniature painting in the
fourteenth century _Livre des Merveilles_.]
The stories told by his father and uncle of the Far East and the Court
of the greatest Emperor on earth filled the boy with enthusiasm, and
when in 1271 the brothers Polo set out for their second journey to
China, not only were they accompanied by the young Marco, but also
by two preaching friars to teach the Christian faith to Kublai Khan.
[Illustration: MARCO POLO LANDS AT ORMUZ. From a miniature in the
_Livre des Merveilles_.]
Their journey lay through Armenia, through the old city of Nineveh
to Bagdad, where the last Khalif had been butchered by the Tartars.
Entering Persia as traders, the Polo family passed on to Ormuz, hoping
to take ship from here to China. But, for some unknown reason, this
was impossible, and the travellers made their way north-eastwards to
the country about the sources of the river Oxus. Here young Marco fell
sick of a low fever, and for a whole year they could not proceed.
Resuming their journey at last "in high spirits," they crossed the
great highlands of the Pamirs, known as the "roof of the world," and,
descending on Khotan, found themselves face to face with the great
Gobi Desert. For thirty days they journeyed over the sandy wastes of
the silent wilderness, till they came to a city in the province of
Tangut, where they were met by messengers from the Khan, who had heard
of their approach. But it was not till May 1275 that they actually
reached the Court of Kublai Khan after their tremendous journey of
"one thousand days." The preaching friars had long since turned
homewards, alarmed at the dangers of the way, so only the three
stout-hearted Polos were left to deliver the Pope's message to the
ruler of the Mongol Empire.
[Illustration: THE POLOS LEAVING VENICE FOR THEIR TRAVELS TO THE FAR
EAST. From a miniature which stands at the head of a late 14th century
MS. of the _Travels of Marco Polo_ (or the Book of the Grand Khan)
in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The drawing shows the Piazzetta at
Venice, with the Polos embarking, and in the foreground indications
of the strange lands they visited.]
"The lord of all the earth," as he was called by his people, received
them very warmly. He inquired at once who was the young man with them.
"My lord," replied Niccolo, "he is my son and your servant."
"Then," said the Khan, "he is welcome. I am much pleased with him."
So the three Venetians abode at the Court of Kublai Khan. His summer
palace was at Shang-tu, called Xanadu by the poet Coleridge--
"In Xanadu did Kublai Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree,
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sacred sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground,
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossom'd many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery."
So the three Venetians abode at the Court of the Chinese Emperor for
no less than seventeen years. Young Marco displayed so great
intelligence that he was sent on a mission for the Khan some six months'
journey distant; and so well did he describe the things he had seen
and the lands through which he had passed, that the Khan heaped on
him honours and riches. Let us hear what Marco says of his lord and
master.
[Illustration: KUBLAI KHAN. From an old Chinese Encyclopaedia at
Paris.]
"The Great Khan, lord of lords, named Kublai, is of middle stature,
neither too full nor too short: he has a beautiful fresh complexion,
his colour is fair, his eyes dark."
The capital of the Empire, Pekin, two days' journey from the sea, and
the residence of the Court during the months of December, January,
and February, called out the unbounded enthusiasm of the Polos. The
city, two days' journey from the ocean, in the extreme north-east of
Cathay, had been newly rebuilt in a regular square, six miles on each
side, surrounded by walls of earth and having twelve gates.
"The streets are so broad and so straight," says Marco, "that from
one gate another is visible. It contains many beautiful houses and
palaces, and a very large one in the midst, containing a steeple with
a large bell which at night sounds three times, after which no man
must leave the city. At each gate a thousand men keep guard, not from
dread of any enemy, but in reverence of the monarch who dwells within
it, and to prevent injury by robbers."
This square form of Pekin, the great breadth of the straight streets,
the closing of the gates by sound of a bell--the largest in the
world--is noted by all travellers to this far-eastern city of Cathay.
But greater even than Pekin was the city of Kin-sai (Hang-tcheou-fou),
the City of Heaven, in the south of China. It had but lately fallen
into the hands of Kublai Khan.
"And now I will tell you all its nobleness," says Marco, "for without
doubt it is the largest city in the world. The city is one hundred
miles in circumference and has twelve thousand stone bridges, and
beneath the greater part of these a large ship might pass. And you
need not wonder there are so many bridges, because the city is wholly
on the water and surrounded by it like Venice. The merchants are so
numerous and so rich that their wealth can neither be told nor believed.
They and their ladies do nothing with their own hands, but live as
delicately as if they were kings. These females also are of most angelic
beauty, and live in the most elegant manner. The people are idolaters,
subject to the Great Khan, and use paper money. They eat the flesh
of dogs and other beasts, such as no Christian would touch for the
world. In this city, too, are four thousand baths, in which the citizens,
both men and women, take great delight and frequently resort thither,
because they keep their persons very cleanly. They are the largest
and most beautiful baths in the world, insomuch that one hundred of
either sex may bathe in them at once. Twenty-five miles from thence
is the ocean, and there is a city (Ning-po) which has a very fine port,
with large ships and much merchandise of immense value from India and
other quarters."
[Illustration: "THE UNROLLING OF THE CLOUDS"--III. The world as known
at the end of the thirteenth century after the travels of Marco Polo
and his contemporaries.]
But though Marco revels in the description of wonderful cities, he
is continually leading us back to the Great Khan himself. His festivals
were splendid. The tables were arranged so that the Emperor sat higher
than all the others, always with his face to the south. His sons and
daughters were placed so that their heads were on a level with his
feet. Some forty thousand people feast on these occasions, but the
Khan himself is served only by his great barons, their mouths wrapped
in rich towels embroidered in gold and silver, that their breath might
not blow upon the plates. His presents were on a colossal scale; it
was no rare occurrence for him to receive five thousand camels, one
hundred thousand beautiful horses, and five thousand elephants
covered with cloth of gold and silver.
"And now I will relate a wonderful thing," says Marco. "A large lion
is led into his presence, which, as soon as it sees him, drops down
and makes a sign of deep humility, owning him its lord and moving about
without any chain."
His kingdom was ruled by twelve barons all living at Pekin. His
provinces numbered thirty-four, hence their method of communication
was very complete.
"Messengers are sent to divers provinces," says Marco, "and on all
the roads they find at every twenty-five miles a post, where the
messengers are received. At each is a large edifice containing a bed
covered with silk and everything useful and convenient for a
traveller ... here, too, they find full four hundred horses, whom the
prince has ordered to be always in waiting to convey them along the
principal roads.... Thus they go through the provinces, finding
everywhere inns and horses for their reception. Moreover, in the
intervals between these stations, at every three miles are erected
villages of about forty houses inhabited by foot-runners also employed
on these dispatches. They wear large girdles set round with bells,
which are heard at a great distance. Receiving a letter or packet,
one runs full speed to the next village, when his approach being
announced by bells, another is ready to start and proceed to the next,
and so on. By these pedestrian messengers the Khan receives news in
one day and night from places ten days' journey distant; in two days
from those twenty off, and in ten from those a hundred days' journey
distant. Thus he sends his messengers through all his kingdoms and
provinces to know if any of his subjects have had their crops injured
through bad weather; and, if any such injury has happened, he does
not exact from them any tribute for that season--nay, he gives them
corn out of his own stores to subsist on."
This first European account of China is all so delightful that it is
difficult to know where to stop. The mention of coal is interesting.
"Throughout the whole province of Cathay," says Marco, "are a kind
of black stones cut from the mountains in veins, which burn like logs.
They maintain the fire better than wood. If you put them on in the
evening they will preserve it the whole night, and it will be found
burning in the morning. Throughout the whole of Cathay this fuel is
used. They have also wood, but the stones are much less expensive."
Neither can we pass over Marco's account of the wonderful stone bridge
with its twenty-four arches of pure marble across the broad river,
"the most magnificent object in the whole world," across which ten
horsemen could ride abreast, or the Yellow River (Hoang-ho), "so large
and broad that it cannot be crossed by a bridge, and flows on even
to the ocean," or the wealth of mulberry trees throughout the land,
on which lived the silkworms that have made China so famous for her
silk.
Then there are the people famous for their manufacture of fine
porcelain ware. "Great quantities of porcelain earth were here
collected into heaps and in this way exposed to the action of the
atmosphere for some forty years, during which time it was never
disturbed. By this process it became refined and fitted for
manufacture." Such is Marco's only allusion to china ware. With regard
to tea he is entirely silent.
But he is the first European to tell us about the islands of Japan,
fifteen hundred miles from the coast of China, now first discovered
to the geographers of the West.
"Zipangu," says Marco, "is an island situated at a distance from the
mainland. The people are fair and civilised in their manners--they
possess precious metals in extraordinary abundance. The people are
white, of gentle manners, idolaters in religion under a king of their
own. These folk were attacked by the fleet of Kublai Khan in 1264 for
their gold, for the King's house, windows, and floors were covered
with it, but the King allowed no exportation of it."
[Illustration: MARCO POLO. From a woodcut in the first printed edition
of Marco Polo's _Travels_, Nuremburg, 1477.]
Thus Marco Polo records in dim outline the existence of land beyond
that ever dreamed of by Europeans--indeed, denied by Ptolemy and other
geographers of the West. In the course of his service under Kublai
Khan he opened up the eight provinces of Tibet, the whole of south-east
Asia from Canton to Bengal, and the archipelago of farther India. He
tells us, too, of Tibet, that wide country "vanquished and wasted by
the Khan for the space of twenty days' journey"--a great wilderness
wanting people, but overrun by wild beasts. Here were great Tibetan
dogs as large as asses. Still on duty for Kublai Khan, Marco reached
Bengal, "which borders upon India." But he was glad enough to return
to his adopted Chinese home, "the richest and most famous country of
all the East."
At last the Polo family wearied of Court honours, and they were anxious
to return to their own people at Venice. However, the Khan was very
unwilling to let them go. One day their chance came. The Persian ruler
was anxious to marry a princess of the house of Kublai Khan, and it
was decided to send the lady by sea under the protection of the trusted
Polos, rather than to allow her to undergo the hardships of an overland
journey from China to Persia.
So in the year 1292 they bade farewell to the great Kublai Khan, and
with the little princess of seventeen and her suite they set sail with
an escort of fourteen ships for India. Passing many islands "with gold
and much trade," after three months at sea they reached Java, at this
time supposed to be the greatest island in the world, above three
thousand miles round. At Sumatra they were detained five months by
stress of weather, till at last they reached the Bay of Bengal. Sailing
on a thousand miles westwards, they reached Ceylon--"the finest island
in the world," remarks Marco. It was not till two years after their
start and the loss of six hundred sailors that they arrived at their
destination, only to find that the ruler of Persia was dead. However,
they gave the little bride to his son and passed on by Constantinople
to Venice, where they arrived in 1295.
[Illustration: A JAPANESE FIGHT AGAINST THE CHINESE AT THE TIME WHEN
MARCO POLO FIRST SAW JAPANESE. From an ancient Japanese painting.]
And now follows a strange sequel to the story. After their long absence,
and in their travel-stained garments, their friends and relations
could not recognise them, and in vain did they declare that they were
indeed the Polos--father, son, and uncle--who had left Venice
twenty-four long years ago. It was no use; no one believed their story.
So this is what they did. They arranged for a great banquet to be held,
to which they invited all their relations and friends. This they
attended in robes of crimson satin. Then suddenly Marco rose from the
table and, going out of the room, returned with the three coarse,
travel-stained garments. They ripped open seams, tore out the lining,
and a quantity of precious stones, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and
emeralds poured forth. The company were filled with wonder, and when
the story spread all the people of Venice came forth to do honour to
their famous fellow-countrymen.
Marco was surnamed Marco of the Millions, and never tired of telling
the wonderful stories of Kublai Khan, the great Emperor who combined
the "rude magnificence of the desert with the pomp and elegance of
the most civilised empire in the Old World."