CONCERNING THE FASHION OF THE IDOLS.
Now you must know that the Idols of Cathay, and of Manzi, and of this
Island, are all of the same class. And in this Island as well as
elsewhere, there be some of the Idols that have the head of an ox, some
that have the head of a pig, some of a dog, some of a sheep, and some
of divers other kinds. And some of them have four heads, whilst some
have three, one growing out of either shoulder. There are also some
that have four hands, some ten, some a thousand! And they do put more
faith in those Idols that have a thousand hands than in any of the
others.{1} And when any Christian asks them why they make their Idols
in so many different guises, and not all alike, they reply that just so
their forefathers were wont to have them made, and just so they will
leave them to their children, and these to the after generations. And
so they will be handed down for ever. And you must understand that the
deeds ascribed to these Idols are such a parcel of devilries as it
is best not to tell. So let us have done with the Idols, and speak of
other things.
But I must tell you one thing still concerning that Island (and ’tis
the same with the other Indian Islands), that if the natives take
prisoner an enemy who cannot pay a ransom, he who hath the prisoner
summons all his friends and relations, and they put the prisoner to
death, and then they cook him and eat him, and they say there is no
meat in the world so good!—But now we _will_ have done with that Island
and speak of something else.
You must know the Sea in which lie the Islands of those parts is called
the SEA OF CHIN, which is as much as to say “The Sea over against
Manzi.” For, in the language of those Isles, when they say _Chin_, ’tis
Manzi they mean. And I tell you with regard to that Eastern Sea of
Chin, according to what is said by the experienced pilots and mariners
of those parts, there be 7459 Islands in the waters frequented by the
said mariners; and that is how they know the fact, for their whole
life is spent in navigating that sea. And there is not one of those
Islands but produces valuable and odorous woods like the lignaloe,
aye and better too; and they produce also a great variety of spices.
For example in those Islands grows pepper as white as snow, as well
as the black in great quantities. In fact the riches of those Islands
is something wonderful, whether in gold or precious stones, or in all
manner of spicery; but they lie so far off from the main land that it
is hard to get to them. And when the ships of Zayton and Kinsay do
voyage thither they make vast profits by their venture.{2}
It takes them a whole year for the voyage, going in winter and
returning in summer. For in that Sea there are but two winds that blow,
the one that carries them outward and the other that brings them
homeward; and the one of these winds blows all the winter, and the
other all the summer. And you must know these regions are so far from
India that it takes a long time also for the voyage thence.
Though that Sea is called the Sea of Chin, as I have told you, yet
it is part of the Ocean Sea all the same. But just as in these parts
people talk of the Sea of England and the Sea of Rochelle, so in those
countries they speak of the Sea of Chin and the Sea of India, and so
on, though they all are but parts of the Ocean.{3}
Now let us have done with that region which is very inaccessible and
out of the way. Moreover, Messer Marco Polo never was there. And let me
tell you the Great Kaan has nothing to do with them, nor do they render
him any tribute or service.
So let us go back to Zayton and take up the order of our book from that
point.{4}
NOTE 1.—“Several of the (Chinese) gods have horns on the forehead,
or wear animals’ heads; some have three eyes.... Some are
represented in the Indian manner with a multiplicity of arms. We
saw at Yang-cheu fu a goddess with thirty arms.” (_Deguignes_, I.
364–366.)
The reference to any particular form of idolatry here is vague.
But in Tibetan Buddhism, with which Marco was familiar, all these
extravagances are prominent, though repugnant to the more orthodox
Buddhism of the South.
When the Dalai Lama came to visit the Altun Khan, to secure the
reconversion of the Mongols in 1577, he appeared as a manifest
embodiment of the Bodhisatva Avalokiteçvara, with _four hands_, of
which two were always folded across the breast! The same Bodhisatva
is sometimes represented with eleven heads. Manjushri manifests
himself in a golden body with 1000 hands and 1000 _Pátras_ or
vessels, in each of which were 1000 figures of Sakya visible, etc.
(_Koeppen_, II. 137; _Vassilyev_, 200.)
NOTE 2.—Polo seems in this passage to be speaking of the more
easterly Islands of the Archipelago, such as the Philippines, the
Moluccas, etc., but with vague ideas of their position.
NOTE 3.—In this passage alone Polo makes use of the now familiar
name of CHINA. “_Chin_,” as he says, “in the language of those Isles
means _Manzi_.” In fact, though the form _Chin_ is more correctly
Persian, we do get the exact form _China_ from “the language of
those Isles,” _i.e._ from the _Malay_. _China_ is also used in
Japanese.
What he says about the Ocean and the various names of its parts
is nearly a version of a passage in the geographical Poem of
Dionysius, ending:—
Οὕτωϛ Ὠκεανὸς περιδέδρομε λαῖαν ἅπασαν
Τοῖος ἐὼν καὶ τοῖα μετ’ ἀνδράσιν οὐνόμαθ’ ἔλκων (42–3).
So also Abulfeda: “This is the sea which flows from the Ocean
Sea.... This sea takes the names of the countries it washes. Its
eastern extremity is called the Sea of Chin ... the part west of
this is called the Sea of India ... then comes the Sea of Fárs, the
Sea of Berbera, and lastly the Sea of Kolzum” (Red Sea).
NOTE 4.—The Ramusian here inserts a short chapter, shown by
the awkward way in which it comes in to be a very manifest
interpolation, though possibly still an interpolation by the
Traveller’s hand:—
“Leaving the port of Zayton you sail westward and something
south-westward for 1500 miles, passing a gulf called CHEINAN,
having a length of two months’ sail towards the north. Along
the whole of its south-east side it borders on the province of
Manzi, and on the other side with Anin and Coloman, and many
other provinces formerly spoken of. Within this Gulf there are
innumerable Islands, almost all well-peopled; and in these is found
a great quantity of gold-dust, which is collected from the sea
where the rivers discharge. There is copper also, and other things;
and the people drive a trade with each other in the things that are
peculiar to their respective Islands. They have also a traffic with
the people of the mainland, selling them gold and copper and other
things; and purchasing in turn what they stand in need of. In the
greater part of these Islands plenty of corn grows. This gulf is so
great, and inhabited by so many people, that it seems like a world
in itself.”
This passage is translated by Marsden with much forcing, so as to
describe the China Sea, embracing the Philippine Islands, etc.;
but, as a matter of fact, it seems clearly to indicate the writer’s
conception as of a great gulf running up into the continent between
Southern China and Tong-king for a length equal to two months’
journey.
The name of the gulf, Cheinan, _i.e._ _Heinan_, may either be
that of the Island so called, or, as I rather incline to suppose,
_’An-nan_, _i.e._ Tong-king. But even by Camoens, writing at Macao
in 1559–1560, the Gulf of Hainan is styled an unknown sea (though
this perhaps is only appropriate to the prophetic speaker):—
“Vês, corre a costa, que Champa se chama,
Cuja mata he do pao cheiroso ornada:
Vês, Cauchichina está de escura fama,
_E de Aināo vê a incognita enseada_” (X. 129).
And in Sir Robert Dudley’s _Arcano del Mare_ (Firenze, 1647), we
find a great bottle-necked gulf, of some 5½° in length, running up
to the north from Tong-king, very much as I have represented the
Gulf of Cheinan in the attempt to realise Polo’s Own Geography.
(See map in Introductory Essay.)