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[Picture: Book cover]
[Picture: Map of North Africa]
[Picture: Map of Mexico]
SOME HEROES OF TRAVEL
_OR_, _CHAPTERS FROM THE_
_HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY_
_AND ENTERPRISE_.
WITH MAPS.
COMPILED AND REWRITTEN BY THE LATE
W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS.
“Have you been a traveller?”
SHAKESPEARE.
* * * * *
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE
OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
* * * * *
* * * * *
LONDON:
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C.;
43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.
1893.
PREFACE.
THE present age is sometimes described as an Age of Commonplace; but it
has its romance if we care to look for it. Assuredly, the adventures of
its travellers and explorers do not lose in importance or interest, even
when compared with those of their predecessors in days when a great part
of the world was still “virgin ground.” In the following pages, this
thesis is illustrated by a summary of the narratives of certain “Heroes
of Travel” belonging to our own time; and I believe it will be found that
for “stirring scenes” and “hair-breadth escapes” they vie with any which
the industrious Hakluyt, the quaint Purchas, or, coming down to a later
date, the multifarious Pinkerton has collected. However, on this point
the reader has an opportunity of satisfying himself, as, by way of
contrast, I have prefixed to these Episodes of Recent Travel a succinct
account of the enterprise of Messer Marco Polo, the Pioneer of Mediæval
Travellers.
There is no pleasanter mode of learning geography than by studying the
works of distinguished travellers; and therefore this little book may
claim to possess some slight educational value, while primarily intended
to supply the young with attractive but not unwholesome reading. The
narratives which it contains have been selected with a view to variety or
interest. They range over Mexico, Western Australia, Central Africa, and
Central Asia. They include the experiences of the hunter, the war
correspondent, and the geographical explorer; and, in recognition of the
graceful influence of women, of a lady traveller, who showed herself as
resolute and courageous as any of the so-called hardier sex. And,
finally, they have the merit, it is believed, of not having appeared in
previous compilations.
As a companion for the fireside corner, this little book will, I hope, be
welcome to all English-speaking lads and lasses, who will learn from its
pages how much may be accomplished by patience, perseverance, and energy.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
SIR MARCO POLO, THE VENETIAN, AND HIS TRAVELS IN ASIA 1
MR. GEORGE F. RUXTON, AND HIS ADVENTURES IN MEXICO AND THE 49
ROCKY MOUNTAINS
DOCTOR BARTH, AND CENTRAL AFRICA 90
MR. THOMAS WITLAM ATKINSON, AND HIS ADVENTURES IN SIBERIA 157
AND CENTRAL ASIA
ALEXINA TINNÉ, AND HER WANDERINGS IN THE SUDAN 229
MR. J. A. MACGAHAN, AND CAMPAIGNING ON THE OXUS 260
COLONEL EGERTON WARBURTON, AND EXPLORATION IN WEST AUSTRALIA 293
MAJOR BURNABY, AND A RIDE TO KHIVA 325
SIR SAMUEL BAKER, AND THE SOURCES OF THE NILE 335
[Picture: Map of Marco Polo’s Travels]
SIR MARCO POLO, THE VENETIAN,
AND HIS TRAVELS IN ASIA.
WE should be inclined to consider Sir Marco Polo as one of the greatest
travellers the world has ever seen. It is true he was not a man of
genius; that he was not, like Columbus, inspired by a lofty enthusiasm;
that he displayed no commanding superiority of character. But when we
remember the vast compass of his journeys, and the circumstances under
which they were carried out; when we remember, too, how close an observer
he was, and how rigidly accurate, and his plenitude of energy and
perseverance—we feel that he is, beyond all cavil or question, entitled
to be recognized as the king of mediæval travellers. Let us take Colonel
Yule’s summary of his extraordinary achievements:—
“He was the first Traveller to trace a route across the whole longitude
of Asia, naming and describing kingdom after kingdom which he had seen
with his own eyes; the Deserts of Persia, the flowering plateaux and wild
gorges of Badakshan, the jade-bearing rivers of Khotan; the Mongolian
steppes, cradle of the power that had so lately threatened to swallow up
Christendom; the new and brilliant Court that had been established at
Cambaluc: the first Traveller to reveal China in all its wealth and
vastness, its mighty rivers, its huge cities, its rich manufactures, its
swarming population, the inconceivably vast fleets that quickened its
seas and its inland waters; to tell us of the nations on its borders,
with all their eccentricities of manners and worship; of Tibet, with its
sordid devotees; of Burma, with its golden pagodas and their tinkling
crowns; of Laos, of Siam, of Cochin China; of Japan, the Eastern Thule,
with its rosy pearls and golden-roofed palaces: the first to speak of
that Museum of Beauty and Wonder, still so imperfectly ransacked, the
Indian Archipelago, source of those aromatics then so highly prized and
whose origin was so dark; of Java, the Pearl of Islands; of Sumatra, with
its many kings, its strange costly products, and its cannibal races; of
the dusky savages of Nicobar and Andaman; of Ceylon, the Isle of Gems,
with its sacred Mountain and its tomb of Adam; of India the Great, not as
a dreamland of Alexandrian fables, but as a country seen and partially
explored, with its virtuous Brahmans, its obscene ascetics, its diamonds
and the strange tales of their acquisition, its sea-beds of pearl, and
its powerful sun: the first in mediæval times to give any distinct
account of the secluded Christian Empire of Abyssinia and the
semi-Christian island of Socotra; to speak, though indeed dimly, of
Zanzibar, with its negroes and its ivory, and of the vast and distant
Madagascar, bordering on the Dark Ocean of the South, with its Roc {3}
and other monstrosities; and, in a remotely opposite region, of Siberia
and the Arctic Ocean, of dog-sledges, white bears, and reindeer-riding
Tunguses.”
Who can dispute the fame of a man whose name and memory are associated
with so marvellous a catalogue of discoveries, who anticipated the
travellers of a later generation in many of their most remarkable
enterprises? At one time, the authenticity of his statements was
frequently and openly impugned; he was accused of exaggeration and
inexactitude; but the labours of Marsden, Pauthier, and especially of
Colonel Yule, have shown that his statements, so far as they are founded
on personal observation, may be implicitly accepted.
* * * * *
In the early part of the fourteenth century there lived at Venice a
patrician of good family, named Andrea Polo, to whom were born three
sons, Marco, Nicolo, and Maffeo. Nicolo, the second of these sons, was
the father of our traveller, Marco Polo, who was born in 1254. Engaged
in extensive commercial operations, Nicolo, soon after his son’s birth,
journeyed to Constantinople, and thence proceeded on a trading venture to
the Crimea, which led to his ascending the Volga for a considerable
distance, and crossing the steppes to visit Bokhara and the Court of the
great Kublai Khan, on or within the borders of Cathay. Kublai, the hero
of so many legends, had never before seen a European. He tendered to
Nicolo and his brother Maffeo (who travelled with him) a right royal
welcome; was deeply interested in all they told him of the kingdoms and
states of Europe; and finally resolved on sending them back, with one of
his own nobles, as ambassadors to the Pope. In this capacity they
arrived at Acre in 1269; but as Pope Clement IV. had died in the previous
year, and no successor had as yet been elected, the two brothers thought
they might reasonably indulge themselves in a visit to their Venetian
homes, from which they had been absent for fifteen years.
Nicolo remained at Venice until 1271, when, no Pope having been elected,
he deemed it well that he should return to the Great Khan to explain the
delay which had taken place in the fulfilment of his mission.
Accompanied by his brother Maffeo, and his son Marco, a lad of seventeen,
he sailed to Acre, and thence to the port of Ayas on the gulf of
Scanderoon, where he was overtaken by the news that a Pope had at last
been elected in the person of an old friend of his, Tedoldo Visconti, or
Pope Gregory X., at that time legate in Syria. The new Pope immediately
sent for the two brothers to Acre, and charged them with a cordial
message for the Khan. He also sent him two Dominican monks to teach the
truths of science and Christianity; but they took fright at an early
stage of the journey, and hurried back to Acre; while the two brothers,
with young Polo, started overland for the Court of the Great Khan.
Reaching Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, they seem to have
taken a northern route; traversing successively the regions of Kerman and
Khorasan, Balkh and Badakshan, and ascending the Upper Oxus to the great
plateau of Pamir—a route followed by no European traveller, except
Benedict Goro, until it was undertaken by Captain John Wood, of the
Indian navy, in his special expedition to the sources of the Oxus in
1838. Leaving the bleak wastes of the Pamir, the Polos descended into
Kashgar, visited Yarkand and Khotand, passed near Lake Lob, and
eventually traversed the great Desert of the Gobi, since explored by
several European travellers, to Tangut, the name then applied by Mongols
and Persians to territory at the extreme north-west of China, both within
and without the famous Wall. Skirting the Chinese frontier, they came
upon the Great Khan at his summer palace of Kaiping-fu, near the foot of
the Khin-gan Mountains, and about fifty miles north of the Great Wall.
This must have been in May, 1275, or thereabouts, when Marco Polo was
close upon one and twenty.
“The king of kings” received the three bold Venetians with much favour.
“He showed great pleasure at their coming, and asked many questions as to
their welfare, and how they had sped. They replied that they had in
verity sped well, seeing that they found the Khan well and safe. Then
they presented the credentials and letters which they had received from
the Pope, and those pleased him right well; and after that they produced
some sacred oil from the Holy Sepulchre, whereat he was very glad,
valuing it greatly. And next, spying Marco, who was then a young gallant
(_jeune bacheler_), he asked who was that in their company. ‘Sire,’ said
his father, Messer Nicolo, ‘he is my son and your liegeman.’ ‘Welcome is
he too,’ quoth the Emperor. But why should I make a long story? There
was great rejoicing at the Court because of their arrival; and they met
with attention and honour from everybody. So there they abode at the
Court with the other barons.”
Among young Marco Polo’s gifts appears to have been a facility for
acquiring languages. He speedily mastered that of the Tartars, so as
both to write and speak it; and in a brief space he came to know several
other languages and four written characters. He studied also the customs
of the Tartars and their mode of carrying on war. His ability and
prudence greatly recommended him to Kublai, and he began to employ him in
the public service. His first embassy was to a country lying a six
months journey distant; apparently the province of Yun-nan, which he
reached by way of Shansi, Shensi and Szechuen. He had been shrewd enough
to observe that the Khan was disgusted with the rigid officialism of his
ambassadors, who, on returning from their various missions, would speak
only of the business they had transacted, whereas he would fain have
heard of the strange things, peoples, and countries they had seen. And
so he took full notes of all he saw, and returned to the Khan’s Court
brimful of surprising information, to which the prince listened with
evident pleasure. “If this young man live,” he said, “he will assuredly
come to be a person of great work and capacity.”
For seventeen years Marco Polo remained in the Khan’s service, being sent
on several important embassies, and engaged also in the domestic
administration. For three years he held the government of the important
city of Yangchau. On another occasion, with his uncle Maffeo, he spent a
twelvemonth at Kangchau in Tangut. He also visited Karakorum, the old
Mongolian capital of the Khans, and penetrated into Champa, or Southern
Cochin China. Finally, he seems to have been sent on a mission to the
Indian Seas, and to have explored several of the southern states of
India. And thus it came about that Messer Marco Polo had knowledge of,
or actually visited, a greater number of the different countries of the
world than any other man; the more that he was always eager to gain
information, and to examine and inquire into everything.
Meantime, the Venetians were growing wealthy, and Marco’s father and
uncle were growing old; and increasing wealth and increasing years raised
in them an apprehension of what might befall them in case of the aged
Khan’s death, and a desire to return to their native land. Several times
they applied to Kublai for permission to depart; but he was loth to say
farewell to the men whom he had known and trusted so long, and, but for
an opportune event, they might never have succeeded in carrying
themselves and their jewels and gold back to Europe. In 1286 Arghún
Khan, of Persia, Kublai’s great-nephew, lost his favourite wife, the
Khatun Bulaghán. On her death-bed she charged him to supply her place
with a daughter of her own tribe, the Mongols of Bayaut; and, desirous of
fulfilling her dying wish, the bereaved prince despatched three
ambassadors to Kublai’s Court to seek for him a fitting bride. The Great
Khan received them with all honour and hospitality, and then sent for the
lady Kukachiu, a maiden of seventeen, and a very beautiful and gracious
person. On her arrival at Court she was presented to the three
ambassadors, who declared that the lady pleased them well.
The overland route from Peking to Tabriz was long and dangerous, and the
envoys decided, therefore, on returning, with their fair charge, by sea.
While sojourning at the Khan’s Court they had made the acquaintance of
the three Venetians, and being greatly impressed by their marvellous good
sense and experience, and by Marco Polo’s extensive knowledge of the
Indian seas and territories, they entreated the Khan to allow them the
advantage and protection of their company. It was with profound
reluctance that Kublai gave his consent; but when once he had done so, he
behaved with his wonted splendour of generosity. Summoning the three
Venetians to his presence, he placed in their hands two golden “tablets
of authority,” which secured them a free passage through all his
dominions, and unlimited supplies of all necessaries for themselves and
for their company. He entrusted them also with messages to the King of
France, the King of England, the King of Spain, and other sovereigns of
Christendom. Then he caused thirteen ships to be equipped, each with
four masts and nine to twelve sails; and when all was ready, the
ambassadors and the lady, with the three Venetians, took leave of the
Great Khan, and went on board their ships, with a large retinue, and with
two years’ supplies provided by the Emperor (A.D. 1292).
The port from which they set out seems to have been that of Zaytou, in
Fo-kien. The voyage was long and wearisome, and chequered by much ill
fortune; and in the course of it two of the ambassadors died, and as many
as six hundred of the mariners and attendants. They were detained for
months on the coast of Sumatra, and in the south of India; nor did they
arrive at Hormuz until the end of 1293. There they learned that Arghún
Khan had been dead a couple of years, and that he had been succeeded by
his brother Kaikhatu. The lady, according to the custom of the country,
became the wife of Arghún’s son, Prince Ghazan, who is spoken of as
endowed with some of the highest qualities of a king, a soldier, and a
legislator; but she wept much in bidding farewell to her noble Venetian
friends.
As for Marco Polo, his father, and uncle, having discharged the trust
placed in their hands by Kublai Khan, they proceeded to Tabriz, on a
visit to Kaikhatu; and having sojourned there for some months, journeyed
homeward by way of Trebizond, Constantinople, and Negropont, arriving in
Venice in 1295, after an absence of four and twenty years.
The traditional story of their arrival is related by Ramusio:—
“Years of anxiety and travel, and the hardships of many journeys, had so
changed the appearance of the three Venetians, who, indeed, had almost
forgotten their native tongue, that no one in Venice recognized them.
Their clothes, too, were coarse and shabby, and after the Tartar fashion.
Proceeding to their house in Venice, a lofty and handsome palazzo, and
known by the name of the Corte del Millioni, they found it occupied by
some of their relatives, whom they had no small difficulty in convincing
of their identity. To secure the desired recognition, and the honourable
notice of the whole city, they adopted a quaint device.
“Inviting a number of their friends and kindred to an entertainment, they
were careful that it should be prepared with great state and splendour;
and when the hour came for sitting down to table, they came forth from
their chamber, all clothed in crimson satin, fashioned in long robes
reaching to the ground, such as in those days people wore within doors.
And when water for ablutions had been served, and the guests were sat,
they doffed these robes, and put on others of crimson damask, while the
first suits were, by their orders, cut up and divided among the servants.
After partaking of some of the dishes, they again retired, to come back
resplendent in robes of crimson velvet, and when they had again taken
their seats, the cast-off robes were divided as before. When dinner was
over, they did the like with the robes of velvet, after they had attired
themselves in dresses of the same fashion as those worn by the rest of
the company. Much wonder and astonishment did the guests exhibit at
these proceedings.
“Now, when the cloth had been removed, and all the servants had quitted
the dining-hall, Messer Marco, as the youngest of the three, rose from
table, and, going into another chamber, brought forth the three shabby
dresses of coarse stuff which they had worn, on their arrival in the
city. Straightway, with sharp knives they began to rip some of the seams
and welts, and to draw forth vast quantities of jewels of the highest
value—rubies and sapphires, carbuncles, diamonds, and emeralds—which had
all been stitched up in those dresses so artfully that nobody could have
suspected their presence. For when they took leave of the Great Khan,
they had converted all the wealth he had bestowed upon them into this
mass of precious stones, being well aware of the impossibility of
carrying with them so great an amount in gold, over a journey of such
extreme length and difficulty. The exhibition of this immense treasure
of jewels and precious stones, all poured out upon the table, threw the
guests into fresh amazement, so that they appeared bewildered and
dumfounded. And straightway they recognized, what they had formerly
doubted, that the three strangers were indeed those worthy and honoured
gentlemen of the Polo family whom they had claimed to be; and paid them
the greatest reverence. And the story being bruited abroad in Venice,
the whole city, gentle and simple, hastened to the house to embrace them,
and make much of them, with every demonstration of affection and respect.
On Messer Maffeo, the eldest, they conferred an office that in those days
was of high dignity; while the young men came daily to visit and converse
with the ever polite and gracious Messer Marco, and to ask him questions
about Cathay and the Great Khan, all of which he answered with such
courtesy and kindliness, that every man felt himself in a manner in his
debt. And as it chanced that in the narrative which he was constantly
called on to repeat of the magnificence of the Great Khan, he would speak
of his revenues as amounting to ten or fifteen ‘millions’ of gold, and,
in like manner, when recounting other instances of great wealth in those
remote lands, would always employ the term ‘millions,’ people nicknamed
him Messer Marco _Millioni_—a circumstance which I have noted also in the
public books of this Republic where he is mentioned. The court of his
house, too, at S. Giovanni Crisostomo has always from that time been
popularly known as the Court of the Millioni.” {12}
We pass on to 1298, a year which witnessed a fresh outburst of the bitter
enmity between Genoa and Venice. The Genoese, intent upon crushing their
formidable rival, despatched a great fleet into the Adriatic, under the
command of Lamba Doria. Off the island of Curzola they were met by a
more powerful armada, of which Andrea Dandolo was admiral, and one of the
galleys of which was commanded by Marco Polo. The battle began early on
the 7th of September, the Venetians entering into it with the glad
confidence of victory. Their impetuous attack was rewarded by the
capture of the Genoese galleys; but, dashing on too eagerly, many of
their ships ran aground. One of these was captured, cleared of its crew,
and filled with Genoese. Closing up into a column, the Genoese pushed
the encounter hotly, and broke through the Venetian line, which the
misadventure we have spoken of had thrown into disorder. Throughout the
long September day the fight was bravely supported; but, towards sunset,
a squadron of cruising ships arriving to reinforce Doria, the Venetians
were taken in flank, and finally overpowered. The victory of the Genoese
was complete; they captured nearly all the Venetian vessels, including
the admiral’s, and seven thousand men, among whom were Dandolo and Marco
Polo. The former disappointed the triumph of his victors by dashing out
his brains against the side of his galley; the latter was removed to
Genoa.
During his captivity Polo made the acquaintance of a Pisan man of
letters, named Rusticiano, or Rustichello, who was a prisoner like
himself. When he learned the nature of Polo’s remarkable experiences,
this Pisan gentleman, not unnaturally, urged him to record them in
writing; and it would seem that the great traveller complied with the
request, and dictated to his new friend the narrative that has since
excited so much curious interest. Through the intervention of Matteo
Visconti, Captain-General of Milan, peace was concluded in May, 1299,
between Genoa and Venice, and as one of the conditions was the release of
prisoners on both sides, Messer Marco Polo soon afterwards obtained his
freedom, and returned to his family mansion in the Corte del Sabbrin. He
took with him the manuscript story of his world wanderings, and in 1306
presented a copy of it to a noble French knight, Thibault de Cipoy, who
had been sent on a diplomatic mission to Venice by Charles of Valois.
The closing years of a life which, in its spring and summer, had been
crowded with incident and adventures, were undisturbed by any notable
event, and in his old age Marco Polo enjoyed the sweetness of domestic
peace and the respect of his fellow-countrymen. On the 9th of January,
1324, “finding himself growing feebler every day through bodily ailment,
but being by the grace of God of a meek mind, and of senses and judgment
unimpaired, he made his will, in which he constituted as his trustees
Donata, his beloved wife, and his dear daughters, Fantina, Bellola, and
Monta,” bequeathing to them the bulk of his property. How soon
afterwards he died, there is no evidence to show; but it is at least
certain that it was before June, 1325. We may conclude, therefore, that
his varied life fulfilled the Psalmist’s space of seventy years.
Marco Polo, says Martin Bucer, was the creator of the modern geography of
Asia. He was the Humboldt of the thirteenth century; and the record of
his travels must prove an imperishable monument of his force of
character, wide intelligence and sympathy, and unshaken intrepidity. We
have thus briefly summarized his remarkable career, and indicated the
general extent of his travels. To follow him in detail throughout his
extensive journeys would be impossible within the limits prescribed to
us; and we shall content ourselves, therefore, with such extracts from
his narrative as will best illustrate their more interesting and striking
features, and indirectly assist us in forming some conception of the man
himself.
And first, we take his description of the great river of Badakshan and
the table-land of Pamir—which the wandering Kirghiz call “The Roof of the
World”—substituting modern names of places for those in the original.
* * * * *
“In leaving Badakshan, you ride twelve days between east and north-east,
ascending a river [the Upper Oxus] that runs through land belonging to a
brother of the Prince of Badakshan, and containing a good many towns and
villages and scattered habitations. The people are Mohammedans, and
valiant in war. At the end of those twelve days you come to a province
of no great size, extending indeed no more than three days’ journey in
any direction, and this is called Wakhan. The people worship Mohammed,
and have a peculiar language. They are gallant soldiers, and have a
chief whom they call _None_ [No-no?], which is as much as to say Count,
and they are liegemen to the Prince of Badakshan.
“There are numbers of wild beasts of all kinds in this region. And when
you leave this little country, and ride three days north-east, always
among mountains, you get to such a height that it is spoken of as the
highest place in the world. And when you reach this height, you find a
great lake between two mountains [Lake Sir-i-kol], and out of it a pure
river [the Oxus] flows through a plain clothed with the most beautiful
pasture in the world, so that a lean beast would fatten there to your
heart’s content in ten days. There are great numbers of all kinds of
wild beasts; among others, wild sheep of large size, with horns six palms
in length [the Rass, or _Ovis Poli_]. From these horns the shepherds
make great bowls out of which to eat their food; and they use the horns
also to enclose folds for their cattle at night. Messer Marco was told
also that the wolves were numerous, and killed many of those wild sheep.
Hence quantities of their horns and bones were found, and these were made
into great heaps by the wayside, in order to direct travellers when snow
lay on the earth.
“The plain is called Pamir, and you ride across it for twelve days
together, finding nothing but a desert without habitation or any green
thing, so that travellers are compelled to carry with them whatever they
have need of. The region is so lofty and so cold, that not a bird is to
be seen. And I must also observe that, owing to this extreme cold, fire
does not burn so brightly, nor give out so much heat as usual, nor does
it cook food so thoroughly.
“Now, if we continue our journey towards the east-north-east, we travel
fully forty days, continually passing over mountains and hills, or
through valleys, and crossing many rivers and wildernesses. And in all
this extent you find neither habitation of man, nor any green thing, and
must carry with you whatever you require. The country is called Bolor
[the Tibetan kingdom of Balti]. The people dwell high up in the
mountains, and are savage idolaters, living only by the chase, and
clothing themselves in the skins of beasts. They are, in truth, an evil
race.”
* * * * *
[In February, 1838, Captain John Wood crossed the Pamir, and his
description of it may be compared with the Venetian traveller’s. “We
stood, to use a native expression,” he says, “upon the _Báni-i-Duniah_,
or ‘Roof of the World,’ while before us lay stretched a noble, but frozen
sheet of water, from whose western end issued the infant river of the
Oxus. This fine lake (Sir-i-kol) lies in the form of a crescent, about
fourteen miles long from east to west, by an average breadth of one mile.
On three sides it is bordered by swelling hills about 500 feet high,
while along its southern bank they rise into mountains 3500 feet above
the lake, or 19,000 feet above the sea, and covered with perpetual snow,
from which never-failing source the lake is supplied. Its elevation is
15,600 feet. . . . The appearance of the country presented the image of
a winter of extreme severity. Wherever one’s gaze rested, a dazzling bed
of snow covered the soil like a carpet, while the sky above our heads was
of a sombre and melancholy hue. A few clouds would have refreshed the
eye, but none could be anywhere seen. Not a breath rippled the surface
of the lake; not a living animal, not even a bird, presented itself to
the view. The sound of a human voice had been harmonious music to the
ear, but, at this inhospitable season of the year, no one ventured into
these icy realms. Silence reigned everywhere around us; a silence so
profound that it oppressed the heart.” {17}
* * * * *
Of the city of Lop (or Lob) and the great Desert of Gobi, Marco Polo
writes:—
“Lop is a large town on the border of the desert which is called the
Desert of Lop, and is situated between east and north-east. It belongs
to the Great Khan, and the people worship Mohammed. Now, such persons as
propose to cross the desert take a week’s rest in this town to refresh
themselves and their cattle; and then they make ready for the journey,
taking with them a month’s supply for man and beast. On quitting this
city they enter the desert.
“The extent of this desert is so great, that it is said it would take a
year and more to ride from one end of it to the other. And here, where
its breadth is least, it takes a month to cross it. It is all composed
of hills and valleys of sand, and contains not a thing to eat. But after
riding for a day and a night you find fresh water, enough mayhap for some
fifty or one hundred persons with their beasts, but not for more. And
all across the desert you will find water in like manner, that is to say,
in some twenty-eight places altogether you will find good water, but in
no great quantity; and in four places also you find brackish water.
“Beasts there are none; for there is no food for them. But there is a
marvellous thing related of this desert, which is that when travellers
are on the march by night, and one of them chances to drop behind, or to
fall asleep or the like, when he tries to regain his company, he will
hear spirits talking, and suppose them to be his comrades. Sometimes the
spirits will call him by name; and thus shall a traveller frequently be
led astray so that he never finds his party. And in this way many have
perished. Sometimes the travellers will hear as it were the tramp and
murmur of a great cavalcade of people away from the real line of road,
and taking this to be their own company, will follow the sound; and when
day breaks they discover the deception, and perceive that they are in an
evil plight. Even in the day time the spirits may be heard talking. And
sometimes you shall hear the sound of various musical instruments, and
still more commonly the rattle of drums. Hence, in performing this
journey, it is customary for travellers to keep close together. All the
animals, too, have bells at their necks, so that they cannot easily get
astray. And at sleeping time a signal is hoisted to show the direction
of the next march.
“And in this way it is that the desert is crossed.”
* * * * *
As the sea has its mermaids, and the river its water-sprites, Undines, or
Loreleys, which entice their victims to death, so the deserts and waste
places of the earth have their goblins and malignant demons. The awe
inspired by the vastness and dreary solitude of the wilderness suggests
to the imagination only gloomy ideas, and it is conceived of as a place
where no influences or beings favourable to man can exist. Its sounds
are sounds of terror; its appearances all foster a sentiment of mystery.
Pliny tells us of the phantoms that start up before the traveller in the
African deserts; Mas’udi, of the Ghûls, which in night and solitude seek
to lead him astray. An Arab writer relates a tradition of the Western
Sahara:—“If the wayfarer be alone the demons make sport of him, and
fascinate him, so that he wanders from his course and perishes.” Colonel
Yule remarks that the Afghan and Persian wildernesses also have their
_Ghûl-i-Beában_, or Goblin of the Waste, a gigantic and fearful spectre
which devours travellers; and even the Gaels of the West Highlands have
the desert creature of Glen Eiti, which, one-handed, one-eyed,
one-legged, seems exactly to answer to the Arabian Nesúas or _Empusa_.
And it may be added that the wind-swept wastes of Dartmoor, limited as is
their expanse, are, in the eyes of the peasantry, haunted by mysterious
and malevolent spirits.
The effect of the Desert on a cultivated mind is well described by Madame
Hommaire de Hell:—“The profound stillness,” she says, “which reigns in
the air produces an indescribable impression on our senses. We scarcely
dare to interrupt it, it seems so solemn, so fully in harmony with the
infinite grandeur of the desert. In vain will you seek a calm so
absolute in even the remotest solitudes of civilized countries.
Everywhere some spring murmurs, everywhere some trees rustle, everywhere
in the silence of the nights some voices are heard which arrest the
thought; but here nature is, so to speak, petrified, and we have before
us the image of that eternal repose which the mind is hardly able to
conceive.”
* * * * *
Concerning the customs of the Tartars, Marco Polo writes:—
“The Tartar custom is to spend the winter in warm plains where they find
good fodder for their cattle, while in summer they betake themselves to a
cool climate among the mountains and valleys, where water is to be found,
as well as woods and pastures.
“Their houses are circular, and are made of wands covered with felt.
These are carried along with them whithersoever they go; for the wands
are so strongly interwoven, and so well combined, that the framework can
be made very light. Whenever these huts are erected, the door is always
placed to the south. They also have waggons covered with black felt so
efficaciously that no rain can enter. These are drawn by oxen and
camels, and the women and children travel in them. The women do the
buying and selling, and whatever is necessary to provide for the husband
and household; for the men all lead the life of gentlemen, troubling
themselves about nothing but hawking and hunting, and looking after their
goshawks and falcons, unless it be the practice of warlike exercises.
“They live on the meat and milk which their birds supply, and on the
produce of the chase; and they eat all kinds of flesh, including that of
horses and dogs, and Pharaoh’s rats, of which there are great numbers in
burrows on these plains. Their drink is mare’s milk. . . .
“This is the fashion of their religion: They say there is a most high God
of Heaven, whom they worship daily with thurible and incense, but they
pray to him only for health of mind and body. But they have also a
certain other god of theirs called Natigay, and they say he is the God of
the Earth, who watches over their children, cattle, and crops. They show
him great worship and honour, and every man hath a figure of him in his
house, made of felt and cloth; and they also make in the same manner
images of his wife and children. The wife they put on the left hand, and
the children in front. And when they eat, they take the fat of the meat
and grease the god’s mouth withal, as well as the mouths of his wife and
children. Then they take of the broth and sprinkle it before the door of
the house; and that done, they deem that their god and his family have
had their share of the dinner.
“Their drink is mare’s milk, prepared in such a way that you would take
it for white wine, and a good right drink it is, called by them komiz.
“The clothes of the wealthy Tartars are for the most part of gold and
silk stuffs, lined with costly furs, such as sable and ermine, vair and
fox skin, in the richest fashion.”
* * * * *
As in succeeding chapters of this volume we shall have something to say
about the manners and customs of the Mongolian nomads, we may here be
content with observing that Marco Polo’s “Natigay” seems identical with
the “Nongait” or “Ongotiu” of the Buriats, who, according to Pallas, is
honoured by them as the tutelary god of sheep and other cattle. Properly
the divinity consists of _two_ figures, hanging side by side, one of whom
represents the god’s wife. These two figures are merely a pair of lanky
flat bolsters with the upper part shaped into a round disc, and the body
hung with a long woolly fleece; eyes, nose, breasts, and navel being
indicated by leather knobs stitched upon the surface. The male figure
commonly has at his girdle the foot-rope with which horses at pasture are
fettered, whilst the female, which is sometimes accompanied by smaller
figures representing her children, is adorned with all sorts of little
nick-nacks and sewing implements.
* * * * *
The Tartar customs of war are thus described:—
“All their harness of war is excellent and costly. Their arms are bows
and arrows, sword and mace; but, above all, the bow, for they are capital
archers, indeed the best that are known. On their backs they wear armour
of cuirbouly, {22} prepared from buffalo and other hides, which is very
strong. They are excellent soldiers, and passing valiant in battle.
They are also more capable of hardship than other nations; for many a
time, if need be, they will go for a month without any supply of food,
living only on the milk of their mares and on such game as their bows may
win them. Their horses also will subsist entirely on the grass of the
plains, so that there is no need to carry store of barley, or straw, or
oats; and they are very docile to their riders. These, in case of need,
will abide on horseback the livelong night, armed at all points, while
the horse will be continually grazing.
“Of all troops in the world these are they which endure the greatest
hardship and fatigue, and cost the least; and they are the best of all
for making wide conquests of country. And there can be no manner of
doubt that now they are the masters of the larger half of the world.
Their armies are admirably ordered in the following manner:—
“You see, when a Tartar prince goes forth to war, he takes with him, say,
a hundred thousand horse. Well, he appoints an officer to every ten men,
one to every hundred, one to every thousand, and one to every ten
thousand, so that his own orders have to be given to ten persons only,
and each of these persons has to pass the orders only to other ten, and
so on; none having to give orders to more than ten. And every one in
turn is responsible only to the officer immediately over him; and the
discipline and order that comes of this method is marvellous, for they
are a people very obedient to their chiefs. . . . And when the army is
on the march they have always two hundred horsemen, very well mounted,
who are sent a distance of two marches in advance to reconnoitre, and
these always keep ahead. They have a similar party detached in the rear
and on either flank, so that there is a good look-out kept on all sides
against surprise. When they are going on a distant expedition, they take
no gear with them except two leather bottles for milk, and a little
earthenware pot to cook their meat in, and a little tent to shelter them
from rain. And in case of great urgency, they will ride ten days on end
without lighting a fire or taking a meal. On such an occasion they will
sustain themselves on the blood of their horses, opening a vein and
letting the blood jet into their mouths, drinking till they have had
enough, and then staunching it.
“They also have milk dried into a kind of paste to carry with them; and
when they need food, they put this in water, and beat it up till it
dissolves, and then drink it. It is prepared in this way: They boil the
milk, and when the rich part floats on the top they skim it into another
vessel, and of that they make butter; for the milk will not become solid
till this is removed. Then they put the milk in the sun to dry. And
when they go on an expedition, every man takes some ten pounds of this
dried milk with him. And of a morning he will take a half-pound of it
and put it in his leather bottle, with as much water as he pleases. So,
as he rides along, the milk-paste and the water in the bottle get well
churned together into a kind of pap, and that makes his dinner.
“When they come to an engagement with the enemy, they will gain the
victory in this fashion: They never let themselves get into a regular
medley, but keep perpetually riding round and shooting into the enemy.
And as they do not count it any shame to run away in battle, they will
sometimes pretend to do so, and in running away they turn in the saddle
and shoot hard and strong at the foe, and in this way make great havoc.
Their horses are trained so perfectly that they will double hither and
thither, just like a dog, in a way that is quite astonishing. Thus they
fight to as good purpose in running away as if they stood and faced the
enemy, because of the vast volleys of arrows that they shoot in this way,
turning round upon their pursuers, who are fancying that they have won
the battle. But when the Tartars see that they have killed and wounded a
good many horses and men, they wheel round bodily, and return to the
charge in perfect order, and with loud cries; and in a very short time
the enemy are routed. In truth, they are stout and valiant soldiers, and
inured to war. And you perceive that it is just when the enemy sees them
run, and imagines that he has gained the battle, that he has in reality
lost it; for the Tartars wheel round in a moment when they judge the
right time has come. And after this fashion they have won many a fight.
“All this that I have been telling you is true of the manners and customs
of the genuine Tartars.”
* * * * *
We come next to the magnificent city of Chandu—that is, Shangtu, or
“Upper Towa,” the Chinese title of Kublai Khan’s summer palace at
Kaiping-fu. The ruins, both of the city and palace, were extant as late
as the end of the seventeenth century.
“When you have ridden three days from the city of Chagan Nor [Chagan
Balghassan], between north-east and north, you come to a city called
Chandu, which was built by the Khan now reigning. There is at this place
a very fine marble palace, the rooms of which are all gilt and painted
with figures of men and beasts and birds, and with a variety of trees and
flowers, all wrought with such exquisite art that you regard them with
delight and astonishment.
“Round this palace is built a wall, enclosing a compass of sixteen miles,
and inside the park are fountains and rivers and brooks and beautiful
meadows, with all kinds of wild animals (excluding such as are of
ferocious nature), which the Emperor has produced and placed there to
supply food for the gerfalcons and hawks which he keeps in mew. Of these
the gerfalcons alone number more than two hundred, without reckoning the
other hawks. The Khan himself goes every week to see his birds sitting
in mew, and sometimes he rides through the park with a leopard behind him
on his horse’s croup; and then, if he sees any animal that takes his
fancy, he lets loose his leopard at it, and the game when taken is used
to feed the hawks in mew. This he does for diversion.
“Further, at a point in the park where blooms a delightful wood, he has
another palace built of bamboo, of which I must give you a description.
It is gilt all over, and most elaborately finished inside. It is
supported on gilt and lackered columns, on each of which stands a dragon
all gilt, the tail being attached to the column, while the head uplifts
the architrave, and the claws likewise being extended right and left as
props to the architrave. The roof also is formed of bamboo, covered with
a varnish so good and strong that no amount of rain will rot it. These
canes are fully three palms in girth, and from ten to fifteen paces in
length. They are cut across at each knot, and the pieces are then split
so as to form from each two hollow tiles, and with them the house is
roofed; only every such tile has to be nailed down to prevent the wind
from lifting it. In short, the whole palace is built of these bamboos,
which, I may mention, are employed for a great variety of other useful
purposes. The construction of the palace is such that it can be taken
down and put up again with great rapidity; and it can be removed to any
place which he may desire. When erected, it is held up by more than two
hundred (200) ropes of silk.
“The Emperor resides in this park of his, sometimes in the palace of
marble, and sometimes in that of bamboo, for three mouths of the year,
namely, June, July, and August; preferring this abode because it is by no
means hot; in fact, it is very cool. When the 28th day of August arrives
he takes his departure, and the bamboo palace is pulled to pieces. But I
must tell you what happens when he takes his departure every year on the
28th of August.
“You must know that the Khan keeps an immense stud of white horses and
mares; in truth, upwards of two hundred of them, and all pure white
without a blemish. The milk of these mares is drunk by himself and
family, and by no one else, except by the people of one great tribe who
have also the privilege of drinking it—a privilege granted to them by
Chingis Khan, on account of a certain victory which, long ago, they
helped him to win. The name of the tribe is Horiad [the Uirad or Oirad].
“Now, when these mares are passing across the country, and any one falls
in with them, be he the greatest lord in the land, he must not presume to
pass until the mares have gone by; he must either tarry where he is, or
go a half-day’s round if so need be, so as not to come nigh them; for
they are to be treated with the greatest respect. Well, when the Emperor
sets out from the park on the 28th of August, as I have told you, the
milk of all those mares is taken and sprinkled on the ground. And this
is done at the bidding of the idolaters and idol-priests, who say that it
is an excellent thing to sprinkle that milk on the ground every 28th of
August, so that the earth and the air and the false gods shall have their
share of it, and the spirits likewise that inhabit the air and the earth.
And thus those beings will protect and bless the Khan, and his children,
and his wives, and his folk, and his gear, his cattle and his horses, his
corn, and all that is his. After this is done, the Emperor is off and
away.
“But I must now tell you a strange thing that hitherto I have omitted to
mention. During the three months of every year that the Khan resides at
that place, if it should chance to be bad weather, there are certain
crafty enchanters and astrologers in his train who are such adepts in
necromancy and the diabolic arts, that they are able to prevent any cloud
or storm from traversing the spot whereon the imperial palace stands.
The sorcerers who do this are called Icbit and Kesomin, which are the
names of two nations of idolaters. Whatever they do in this way is by
the help of the devil, but they make these people believe that it is
compassed by their own sanctity and the help of God. They always go in a
state of dirt and uncleanness, devoid of respect for themselves, or for
those who see them, unwashed, unkempt, and sordidly attired.
“These people have another custom which I must describe to you. If a man
is condemned to death, and executed by the lawful authority, they take
his body, and cook and eat it. But if any one die a natural death, then
they will not eat his body.