CONCERNING THE ADMINISTERING OF JUSTICE AMONG THE TARTARS.
The way they administer justice is this. When any one has committed
a petty theft, they give him, under the orders of authority, seven
blows of a stick, or seventeen, or twenty-seven, or thirty-seven, or
forty-seven, and so forth, always increasing by tens in proportion to
the injury done, and running up to one hundred and seven. Of these
beatings sometimes they die.{1} But if the offence be horse-stealing,
or some other great matter, they cut the thief in two with a sword.
Howbeit, if he be able to ransom himself by paying nine times the
value of the thing stolen, he is let off. Every Lord or other person
who possesses beasts has them marked with his peculiar brand, be they
horses, mares, camels, oxen, cows, or other great cattle, and then they
are sent abroad to graze over the plains without any keeper. They get
all mixt together, but eventually every beast is recovered by means
of its owner’s brand, which is known. For their sheep and goats they
have shepherds. All their cattle are remarkably fine, big, and in good
condition.{2}
They have another notable custom, which is this. If any man have a
daughter who dies before marriage, and another man have had a son also
die before marriage, the parents of the two arrange a grand wedding
between the dead lad and lass. And marry them they do, making a regular
contract! And when the contract papers are made out they put them in
the fire, in order (as they will have it) that the parties in the other
world may know the fact, and so look on each other as man and wife.
And the parents thenceforward consider themselves sib to each other,
just as if their children had lived and married. Whatever may be agreed
on between the parties as dowry, those who have to pay it cause to be
painted on pieces of paper and then put these in the fire, saying that
in that way the dead person will get all the real articles in the other
world.{3}
Now I have told you all about the manners and customs of the Tartars;
but you have heard nothing yet of the great state of the Grand Kaan,
who is the Lord of all the Tartars and of the Supreme Imperial Court.
All that I will tell you in this book in proper time and place, but
meanwhile I must return to my story which I left off in that great
plain when we began to speak of the Tartars.{4}
NOTE 1.—The cudgel among the Mongols was not confined to thieves
and such like. It was the punishment also of military and state
offences, and even princes were liable to it without fatal
disgrace. “If they give any offence,” says Carpini, “or omit to
obey the slightest beck, the Tartars themselves are beaten like
donkeys.” The number of blows administered was, according to
Wassáf, always odd, 3, 5, and so forth, up to 77. (_Carp._ 712;
_Ilchan._ I. 37.)
[“They also punish with death grand larceny, but as for petty
thefts, such as that of a sheep, so long as one has not repeatedly
been taken in the act, they beat him cruelly, and if they
administer an hundred blows they must use an hundred sticks.”
(_Rockhill, Rubruck_, p. 80.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—“They have no herdsmen or others to watch their cattle,
because the laws of the Turks (_i.e._ Tartars) against theft are so
severe.... A man in whose possession a stolen horse is found is
obliged to restore it to its owner, _and to give nine of the same
value_; if he cannot, his children are seized in compensation;
if he have no children, he is slaughtered like a mutton.” (_Ibn
Batuta_, II. 364.)
NOTE 3.—This is a Chinese custom, though no doubt we may trust
Marco for its being a Tartar one also. “In the province of Shansi
they have a ridiculous custom, which is to marry dead folks to each
other. F. Michael Trigault, a Jesuit, who lived several years in
that province, told it us whilst we were in confinement. It falls
out that one man’s son and another man’s daughter die. Whilst the
coffins are in the house (and they used to keep them two or three
years, or longer) the parents agree to marry them; they send the
usual presents, as if the pair were alive, with much ceremony and
music. After this they put the two coffins together, hold the
wedding dinner in their presence, and, lastly, lay them together
in one tomb. The parents, from this time forth, are looked on not
merely as friends but as relatives—just as they would have been had
their children been married when in life.” (_Navarrete_, quoted
by _Marsden._) Kidd likewise, speaking of the Chinese custom of
worshipping at the tombs of progenitors, says: “So strongly does
veneration for this tribute after death prevail that parents,
in order to secure the memorial of the sepulchre for a daughter
who has died during her betrothal, give her in marriage after
her decease to her intended husband, who receives with nuptial
ceremonies at his own house a paper effigy made by her parents,
and after he has burnt it, erects a tablet to her memory—an honour
which usage forbids to be rendered to the memory of unmarried
persons. The law seeks without effect to abolish this absurd
custom.” (_China_, etc., pp. 179–180.)
[Professor J. J. M. de Groot (_Religious System of China_) gives
several instances of marriages after death; the following example
(II. 804–805) will illustrate the custom: “An interesting account
of the manner in which such _post-mortem_ marriages were concluded
at the period when the Sung Dynasty governed the Empire, is given
by a contemporary work in the following words: ‘In the northern
parts of the Realm it is customary, when an unmarried youth and
an unmarried girl breathe their last, that the two families each
charge a match-maker to demand the other party in marriage. Such
go-betweens are called match-makers for disembodied souls. They
acquaint the two families with each other’s circumstances, and
then cast lots for the marriage by order of the parents on both
sides. If they augur that the union will be a happy one, (wedding)
garments for the next world are cut out, and the match-makers
repair to the grave of the lad, there to set out wine and fruit
for the consummation of the marriage. Two seats are placed side
by side, and a small streamer is set up near each seat. If these
streamers move a little after the libation has been performed, the
souls are believed to approach each other; but if one of them does
not move, the party represented thereby is considered to disapprove
of the marriage. Each family has to reward its match-maker with a
present of woven stuffs. Such go-betweens make a regular livelihood
out of these proceedings.’”—H. C.]
The Ingushes of the Caucasus, according to Klaproth, have the same
custom: “If a man’s son dies, another who has lost his daughter
goes to the father and says, ‘Thy son will want a wife in the other
world; I will give him my daughter; pay me the price of the bride.’
Such a demand is never refused, even though the purchase of the
bride amount to thirty cows.” (_Travels, Eng. Trans._ 345.)
NOTE 4.—There is a little doubt about the reading of this last
paragraph. The G. T. has—“_Mès desormès volun retorner à nostre
conte en_ la grant plaingne _où nos estion quant nos comechames des
fais des Tartars_,” whilst Pauthier’s text has “_Mais desormais
vueil retourner à mon conte que Je lessai_ d’or plain _quant nous
commençames des faiz des Tatars.”_ The former reading looks very
like a misunderstanding of one similar to the latter, where _d’or
plain_ seems to be an adverbial expression, with some such meaning
as “just now,” “a while ago.” I have not, however, been able to
trace the expression elsewhere. Cotgrave has _or primes_, “but even
now,” etc.; and has also _de plain_, “presently, immediately, out
of hand.” It seems quite possible that _d’or plain_ should have had
the meaning suggested.