In the middle of the thirteenth century, about two hundred years before
the time of Columbus, a boy named Marco Polo lived in the city of
Venice.
[Illustration: Marco Polo.]
Marco Polo belonged to a rich and noble family, and had all the
advantages of study that the city afforded. He studied at one of the
finest schools in the city of Venice. This city was then famous for
its schools, and was the seat of culture and learning for the known
world.
When Marco Polo started for school in the morning, he did not step
out into a street, as you do. Instead, he stepped from his front
doorstep into a boat called a gondola; for Venice is built upon a
cluster of small islands, and the streets are water ways and are called
canals.
The gondolier, as the man who rows the gondola is called, took Marco
wherever he wished to go. Sometimes, as they glided along, the
gondolier would sing old Venetian songs; and as Marco Polo lay back
against the soft cushions and listened and looked about him, he
wondered if anywhere else on earth there was so beautiful a city as
Venice. For the sky was very blue, and often its color was reflected
in the water; the buildings were graceful and beautiful, the sun was
warm and bright, and the air was balmy.
[Illustration: A Scene in Venice.]
In this delightful city Marco Polo lived until he was seventeen years
of age. About this time, his father, who owned a large commercial house
in Constantinople, told Marco that he might go with him on a long
journey to Eastern countries. The boy was very glad to go, and set
out with his father and his uncle, who were anxious to trade and gain
more wealth in the East. This was in the year 1271.
The three Polos traveled across Persia into China, and across the
Desert of Gobi to the northwest, where they found the great ruler,
Kublai Khan. This monarch was a kind-hearted and able man. He wanted
to help his subjects to become civilized and learned, as the Europeans
were. So Kublai Khan assisted the two elder Polos in their business
of trading, and took Marco into his service.
Soon Marco learned the languages of Asia, and then he was sent by the
khan on errands of state to different parts of the country. He visited
all the great cities in China, and traveled into the interior of Asia
to places almost unknown at the present time.
At length the three Polos expressed a desire to return to Venice. The
great khan did not wish to part with them, but he at last consented;
for he found that by going they could do him a service. The service
required was their escort for a beautiful young princess who was to
be taken from Peking to Tabriz, where she was to marry the Khan of
Persia.
It was difficult to find any one trustworthy enough to take charge
of so important a person on so long and dangerous a journey. But Kublai
Khan had faith in the Polos. They had traveled more than any one else
he knew, and were cautious and brave.
So he gave them permission to return to their home, and requested them
to take the princess to Tabriz on the way. It was decided that the
journey should be made by sea, as the land route was so beset by robbers
as to be unsafe. Besides, the Polos were fine sailors.
They started from the eastern coast of China, and continued their
voyage for three years, around the peninsula of Cochin China, and
through the Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf. Here they went ashore,
and then proceeded by land across Persia to Tabriz. They left the
princess in that city, and resumed their journey by way of the Bosporus
to Venice.
When they reached Venice they found that they had been forgotten by
their friends. They had been away twenty-four years, and in that time
everything had changed very much. They themselves had grown older,
and their clothes differed from those worn by the Venetians; for
fashions changed even in the thirteenth century, although not so often
as they change at the present time. It is no wonder that the Polos
were not known until they recalled themselves to the memory of their
friends.
One evening they invited a few of their old friends to dinner, and
during the evening they brought out three old coats. These coats they
proceeded to rip apart, and out from the linings dropped all kinds
of precious stones--diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies. In
this way these wary travelers had hidden their wealth and treasure
while on their perilous journey. The visitors were astonished at the
sight of so great riches, and listened eagerly to the accounts of the
countries from which they came.
Soon after the return of Marco Polo to Venice, he took part with his
countrymen in a battle against the Genoese. The city of Genoa, like
the city of Venice, had a large trade with the East. These two cities
were rivals in trade, and were very jealous of each other. Whenever
Venetian ships and those of the Genoese met on the Mediterranean Sea,
the sailors found some way of starting a quarrel. The quarrel quickly
led to a sea fight, and it was in one of these combats that Marco Polo
engaged. The Venetians were defeated, and Marco Polo was taken
prisoner and cast into a dungeon. Here he spent his time in writing
the wonderful book in which he described his travels.
[Illustration: A Sea Fight.]
The descriptions Polo gave of the East were as wonderful as fairy tales.
He told of countries rich in gold, silver, and precious stones, and
of islands where diamonds sparkled on the shore. The rulers of these
countries wore garments of rich silk covered with glittering gems,
and dwelt in palaces, the roofs of which were made of gold.
He described golden Cathay, with its vast cities rich in manufactures,
and also Cipango, Hindustan, and Indo-China. He knew of the Indies
Islands, rich in spices, and he described Siberia, and told of the
sledges drawn by dogs, and of the polar bears. The fact that an ocean
washed the eastern coast of Asia was proved by him, and this put at
rest forever the theory that there was an impassable swamp east of
Asia.
This book by Marco Polo was eagerly read, and the facts that it stated
were so remarkable that many people refused to believe them. It stirred
others with a desire to travel and see those lands for themselves.
Traveling by land, however, was very dangerous, because of the bands
of robbers by which the country was occupied. These outlaws robbed
every one whom they suspected of having any money, and often murdered
travelers in order to gain their possessions. Sea travel, too, was
just as dangerous, but in a different way.
You will remember why sailors dared not venture far out upon the ocean
and search for a water route to the Eastern countries and islands.
The time was soon coming, however, when they would dare to do so, and
two wonderful inventions helped navigators very much.
One came from the finding of the loadstone, or natural magnet. This
is a stone which has the power of attracting iron. A steel needle rubbed
on it becomes magnetized, as we say, and, when suspended by the center
and allowed to move freely, always swings around until it points north
and south. Hung on a pivot and inclosed in a box, this instrument is
called the mariners' compass. It was of great importance to sailors,
because it always told them which way was north. On cloudy days, and
during dark, stormy nights, when the sun and stars could not be seen,
the sailors could now keep on their way, far from land, and still know
in which direction they were going.
[Illustration: Mariners' Compass.]
The other invention was that of the astrolabe. This was an instrument
by means of which sailors measured the height of the sun above the
horizon at noon, and could thus tell the distance of the ship from
the equator. It is in use on all the ships at the present time, but
it has been greatly improved, and is now called the quadrant.
The compass and the astrolabe, together with improved maps and charts,
made it possible for navigators to tell where their ship was when out
of sight of land or in the midst of storm and darkness. This made them
more courageous, and they ventured a little farther from the coast,
but still no one dared to sail far out upon the Sea of Darkness.