CONCERNING TURKEY.
§ 1. Andreolo Cathani, a Genoese Captain. His manufacture of alum
described. 2. The VII Churches, and Sepulchre of Saint John. 3, 4.
The country and people characterized.
PREFACE.
The little work here presented was printed in the original Latin at Paris
in 1839, under the editorship of M. Coquebert-Montbret, in the _Recueil
de Voyages et de Mémoires, publié par la Société de Géographie_, vol. iv.
I cannot find that it has ever been published or translated in England,
or even noticed in any English book, except in the _Ceylon_ of Sir James
Emerson Tennent, where there is an allusion to it.
The book itself does not add anything to our knowledge; but the
observations of a traveller who resided in India so far back as the
beginning of the fourteenth century must be very dull indeed if
sufficient interest cannot be derived from their date to make them
acceptable. Nor do I think our author is dull, whilst I regret that he
is so brief, and has omitted so much that he might really have laid up
as an addition to our knowledge. The very fact that there were Roman
Catholic missionaries and a bishop in India at that period, just between
the days of Marco Polo and those of Ibn Batuta, may indeed be excavated
from old ecclesiastical chronicles; but it is certainly unfamiliar to
the knowledge of those who do not dig in such mines.
The translation which follows has been made, and the brief particulars
which I shall give respecting the author have been derived, from the
_Recueil_ above indicated.[22]
The manuscript from which the French editor transcribed belonged to the
Baron Walckenaer. It is on parchment, of the fourteenth century, and
contains other matter, the work of Jordanus occupying twenty-nine quarto
pages.
The author is termed a native of Séverac. That he was a Frenchman will
appear from several passages in his book. But there are at least five
places of the name of Séverac in France. Three of these are in the
district of Rouergue, in the department of the Aveyron (near the eastern
boundary of the old province of Guyenne, and some ninety miles N.E. of
Toulouse), and it was probably from one of these that he came. There was
a noble family of this province called De Séverac, of which was Amaulry
de Séverac, Marshal of France in the time of Charles VII. But, as will
afterwards appear, our traveller was called _Catalani_.[23]
The dates of his birth, his death, or his first going to the East, are
undetermined. But it is ascertained that he was in the East in 1321-1323,
that he returned to Europe, and started again for India, in or soon
after 1330. There appears to be nothing to determine whether this book
of _Mirabilia_ was written on his first, or on a subsequent, return to
Europe.
The authorities for the dates just given are the following:—
Two letters from Jordanus are found in a MS. in the national library at
Paris (in 1839,—Bibliothèque du Roi—MS. No. 5,006, p. 182), entitled
_Liber de ætatibus_, etc. The first of these is dated from Caga,[24]
12th October, 1321. It is addressed to members of his own order (the
Dominican) and of that of St. Francis, residing at Tauris, Tongan, and
Marogo,[25] and points out three stations adapted for the establishment
of missions, viz., Supera, Paroco, and Columbum. On the receipt of these
letters, Nicolaus Romanus, who was Vice-Custos of the Dominicans in
Persia, is stated to have started for India.[26]
In his second letter, dated in January, 1324, Jordanus relates how he
had started from Tabriz to go to Cathay, but embarked first for Columbum
with four Franciscan missionaries, and how they were driven by a storm
to Tana,[27] in India, where they were received by the Nestorians. There
he left his companions, and started for Baroch, where he hoped to preach
with success, as he was better acquainted with the Persian tongue than
the others were. Being detained however at Supera, he there heard that
his four brethren at Tana had been arrested, and returned to aid them,
but found them already put to death. He was enabled to remove the bodies
of these martyrs by the help of a young Genoese whom he found at Tana,
and, having transported them to Supera, he buried them in a church there
as honourably as he could.[28]
The only remaining date in the biography of Jordanus is derived from a
bull of Pope John XXII., the date of which is equivalent to 5th April
1330, addressed to the Christians of Columbum, and intended to be
delivered to them by Jordanus, who was nominated bishop of that place.
The bull commences as follows:—[29]
“Nobili viro domino Nascarinorum et universis sub eo
Christianis Nascarinis de Columbo, Venerabilem fratrem nostrum
Jordanum Catalani, episcopum Columbensem, Prædicatorum Ordinis
professorem, quem nuper ad episcopalis dignitatis apicem
auctoritate apostolicâ duximus promovendum⸺” etc.
The Pope goes on to recommend the missionaries to their good-will, and
ends by inviting the Nascarini (_Nazrání_, Christians, in India) to
abjure their schism, and enter the unity of the Catholic Church.
The Pope had shortly before nominated John de Core to be Archbishop
of Sultania in Persia. This metropolitan had, at least, three bishops
under him, viz., of Tabriz, of Semiscat, and of Columbum.[30] The two
latter were entrusted by the Pope with the _Pallium_ for the archbishop.
Sultania, between Tabriz and Tehran, was the seat of the Persian kings
previous to the Tartar conquest in the thirteenth century, and was still
a great centre of commerce between the Indies and Europe. The number of
Christians was so great, that they had in this city, it is said, four
hundred churches. (?)[31]
We may suppose that Jordanus, after fulfilling his commission at
Sultania, proceeded to his see in Malabar by the Persian Gulf, the route
which he had followed on his first visit to India; but whether he ever
reached it, or ever returned from it, seems to be undetermined.[32] M.
Coquebert-Montbret assumes that he did both; but as far as I can gather,
this is based on the other assumption, that his _Mirabilia_ was written
_after_ returning a second time. My impression is that it was written
_before_ he went out as bishop, for it contains no allusion to his having
held that dignity. Nor does it appear to be known whether he had any
successor in his episcopate.
Another work appears to have been traced with some plausibility to our
author. It is a chronicle composed in the fourteenth century, and quoted
by Muratori from a MS. which in 1740 existed in the Vatican library, with
the No. 1960. It is adorned with fine miniatures, and is entitled
“Satyrica gestarum rerum, regum et regnorum, atque summorum
pontificum, historia, à creatione mundi usque ad Henricum VII.
Romanum augustum.”
The chronicle ends with the year 1320, and purports to be written by one
_Jordanus_. The passage which is considered to identify him with our
author is one relating to the martyrdom of four Minor Friars at Tana, and
is so interesting in itself as to be worth quoting at length. It is very
perplexing, that though several of the circumstances appear to identify
his narrative with that which forms the subject of our author’s letter
quoted in a previous page, the dates are irreconcilable. This difficulty
the French editor does not notice, nor can I solve it.[33]
“MDCCCXIX. Pope John read in the consistory, with great
approval, a letter which he had received, to the effect
following: To wit, that certain brethren of the orders of
Minors and Preachers, who had been sent on a mission to Ormus
to preach the faith to the infidels, when they found that they
could do no good there, thought it well to go over to Columbum
in India. And when they arrived at the island called Dyo,[34]
the brethren of the order of Minors separated from the rest
of the party, both Preachers and secular Christians, and set
out by land to a place called Thana, that they might there
take ship for Columbum. Now there was at that place a certain
Saracen of Alexandria, Ysufus[35] by name, and he summoned them
to the presence of Melich, the governor of the land, to make
inquest how and why they were come. Being thus summoned, he
demands: what manner of men are ye called? They made answer,
that they were Franks, devoted to holy poverty, and anxious
to visit St. Thomas. Then, being questioned concerning their
faith, they replied that they were true Christians, and uttered
many things with holy fervour regarding the faith of Christ.
But when Melich let them go, the aforesaid Yusuf a second and a
third time persuaded him to arrest and detain them. At length
Melich and the Cadi and the people of the place were assembled,
Pagans and idolaters as well as Saracens, and questioned the
brethren: How can Christ, whom ye call the Virgin’s son, be
the son of God, seeing that God hath not a mate? Then set
they forth many instances of divine generation, as from the
sun’s rays, from trees, from germs in the soil; so that the
infidels could not resist the Spirit who spake in them. But
the Saracens kindled a great fire, and said: Ye say that your
law is better than the law of Mahomet; an it be so, go ye into
the fire, and by miracle prove your words. The brethren replied
that, for the honour of Christ, that they would freely do;
and brother Thomas coming forward would first go in, but the
Saracens suffered him not, for that he seemed older than the
others; then came forward the youngest of the brethren, James
of Padua, a young wrestler for Christ, and incontinently went
into the fire, and abode in it until it was well nigh spent,
rejoicing and uttering praise, and without any burning of his
hair even, or of the cloth of his gown. Now they who stood by
shouted with a great cry, Verily these be good and holy men!
“But the Cadi, willing to deny so glorious a miracle, said:
It is not as ye think, but his raiment came from the land of
Aben ...[36] a great friend of God, who when cast into the
flames in Chaldea, took no hurt; therefore, hath this man abode
scatheless in the fire.
“Then stripped they the innocent youth, and all naked as he was
born was he cast by four men into the fire. But he bore the
flames without hurt, and went forth from the fire unscathed
and rejoicing. Then Melich set them free to go whither they
would. But the Cadi, and the aforesaid Yusuf, full of malice,
knowing that they had been entertained in the house of a
certain Christian, said to Melich: What dost thou? why slayest
thou not these Christ-worshipers? He replied: That I find no
cause of death in them. But they say: If ye let them go, all
will believe in Christ, and the law of Mahomet will be utterly
destroyed. Melich again says: What will ye that I should do,
seeing that I find no cause of death? But they said: His blood
be upon us. For it is said that if one cannot go pilgrim to
Mecca, let him slay a Christian and he shall obtain a full
remission of sins, as if he had visited Mecca. Wherefore, the
night following, the three men aforesaid, Melich, the Cadi,
and Yusuf, sent officers who despatched the three brethren,
Thomas, James, and Demetrius, to the joys of heaven, bearing
the palm of martyrdom. And after awhile, having made brother
Peter, who was in another place, present himself before them,
when he firmly held to the faith of Christ, for two days they
vexed him with sore afflictions, and on the third day, cutting
off his head, accomplished his martyrdom. But their comrades,
the Preachers and the rest, when they heard this, wrote to the
West, lamenting wofully that they had been parted from the
company of the holy martyrs, and saying that they were devoutly
engaged in recovering the relics of the martyrs.”
I had desired to add to this preface some notices of the Christians of
Malabar, embracing the latest information; but my work is cut short by
circumstances, and I must content myself with saying something, hurriedly
put together, as to the identity of _Columbum_, the seat of the bishop’s
see.
It is clear that Columbum is not Colombo in Ceylon, though the French
editor is wrong in supposing that the latter city did not exist in the
time of Jordanus, for it is mentioned by the modern name in Ibn Batuta’s
travels, only a few years later. Jordanus evidently does not speak of
Ceylon as one who had been there, and whilst treating of greater India,
he says distinctly, “_In istâ Indiâ, me existente in Columbo, fuerunt
inventi_,” _etc._
The identity of Columbum with Kulam or Quilon, on the coast of Malabar
(now in Travancore), might therefore have been assumed, but for the
doubts which have been raised by some of the editors of Marco Polo as
to the position of the _Kulam_ or _Coilon_ of Marco and other medieval
travellers.
Mr. Hugh Murray, adopting the view of Count Baldello Boni in his edition
of Marco Polo, considers that the place so-called by those travellers
was on the east coast of the Peninsula. I have not time to seek for
Baldello’s edition, and do not know his arguments; but I conceive that
there is enough evidence to show that he is wrong.
The argument on which Murray rests is chiefly the position in which
Polo introduces his description of Coilon, after Maabar, and before
Comari; Maabar being with him an extensive region of Coromandel, and
Comari doubtless the country about Cape Comorin. But, omitting detailed
discussion of the value of this argument, which would involve a
consideration of all the other difficulties in reducing to geographical
order Polo’s notices of the kingdoms on the coast of India, his
description of Coilon as a great port for pepper and brazil-wood, is
sufficient to identify it as on the coast of Malabar. The existence
of places called Coulan on the east coast in the maps of D’Anville,
Rennel, and Milburn, is of little moment, for an inspection of the “Atlas
of India” will show scores of places so-called on both sides of Cape
Comorin, the word signifying, in the Tamul tongue, ‘an irrigation tank,
formed by damming up natural hollows.’ Indeed, though I have found no
trace of any well-known port on the east coast so-called, there were at
least four ports of the name on the west coast frequented by foreign
vessels, viz., Cote Colam, north of Cananore; Colam, called Pandarani,
north of Calicut; Cai-Colam, or Kaincolam,[37] between Cochin and the
chief place of the name; Coulam, or Quilon, the Columbum of our author.
We know that Kulam, on the coast of Malabar, was founded in the ninth
century, and that its foundation formed an era from which dates were
reckoned in Malabar.[38] In that same century we find[39] that the
sailing directions for ships making the China voyage from the Persian
Gulf, were to go straight from Maskát to _Kulam Malé_, a place
evidently, both from name and fact, on the coast of Malabar. Here there
was a custom-house, where ships from China paid their dues.
The narrative of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela is very hazy. He calls
_Chulan_ only seven days from El-Cathif (which is a port on the west
coast of the Persian Gulf), “and on the confines of the country of
the Sun-worshippers.” However, his description of the pepper-gardens
adjoining the city, the black Jews, etc., identify it with one of the
Kulams on the Malabar coast, and doubtless with Quilon, which was the
chief of them.
Then comes Polo’s notice of Coilon already alluded to, followed by our
author’s mention of it, and residence there.
It is probable that the Polumbrum or Polembum of his contemporaries
Odoricus and Mandevill, are corrupt readings of the name of Kulam or
Columbum. The former describes this place as at the head of the pepper
forest towards the south, and as abounding in all sorts of merchandize;
Mandevill adding, “thither go merchants often from Venice to buy pepper
and ginger.”
Ibn Batuta, only half a century after Polo, is quite clear in his
description of _Kaulam_, as the seat of an infidel king, the last city on
the Malabar coast, and frequented by many Mahomedan merchants. He also
says that Kaulam, Calicut, and Hílí were the only ports entered by the
ships of China.
So also Conti, early in the fifteenth century, on his return from the
Eastern Archipelago, departing from Champa (Cambodia), doubtless in one
of those same ships of China, after a month’s voyage arrives at _Coloen_,
a noble city, three days from Cochin, and “situated in the province
called Melibaria.”
Coming down to later times, Barbosa, in the first years of the sixteenth
century, speaks of Coulon still as the great pepper port, the seat of
one of the three (chief) kings of Malabar, and where lived many Moors,
Gentiles, and Christians, who were great merchants, and had many ships
trading to Coromandel, Ceylon, Bengal, Pegu, Malacca, Sumatra, etc.
Here, however, at last, we find something to justify Marco Polo in regard
to the position in which he introduces the kingdom of Coilon. For, after
speaking of Coulam on the Malabar coast, Barbosa goes forward to Cape
Comorin, where he says the country of Malabar indeed terminates, but the
“aforesaid kingdom of Coulam” still goes on and comes to an end at the
city of Cail, where the King of Coulam made his continual residence. So
also the “Summary of kingdoms,” etc., in Ramusio, describes the kingdom
of Colam as extending on both sides of Cape Comorin.
It is intelligible, therefore, that Marco, coming upon territory
belonging to the _kingdom_ of Coilon, before reaching Cape Comorin,
should proceed to speak of the city of that name, though it lay upon
the western coast. But there is in this no ground for asserting, as
Mr. Murray does, that “the _place_ of that name described by Marco and
other early Europeans lay to the east of that great promontory.” We
have seen that a regular catena of authorities, from the ninth to the
sixteenth century, concurs in representing Coulam, Kulam, Coloen, Coilon
(_Quilon_), on the coast of Malabar, as the great entrepôt of trade with
east and west, and there can be no reasonable doubt that this is the
Columbum which was the seat of our author’s mission.
The occasional quotations given in the notes will indicate the quality
of the author’s Latin. The French editor is unwilling to believe that
episcopal Latinity could be so bad, and suggests that his vernacular was
Latinized by some humbler scribe, and probably extracted from a larger
work. In support of this, he adduces the abrupt commencement, and the
“but” with which he plunges in—“Inter Siciliam _autem_ et Calabriam.” But
he gives a fac-simile of the beginning of the MS., and the words seem
to me (all inexpert I confess) almost certainly to be “Inter Siciliam
_atque_ Calabriam,” so that this argument is null.
One must notice the frequent extraordinary coincidences of statement,
and almost of expression, between this and other travellers of the same
age, especially M. Polo. At first one would think that Jordanus had
Polo’s book. But he certainly had not Ibn Batuta’s, and the coincidences
with him are sometimes almost as striking. Had those ancient worthies,
then, a MURRAY from whom they pilfered experiences, as modern travellers
do? I think they had; but _their_ Murray lay in the traditional yarns
of the Arab sailors with whom they voyaged, some of which seem to have
been handed down steadily from the time of Ptolemy—peradventure of
Herodotus[40]—almost to our own day.
And so I commend the simple and zealous Jordanus to kindly entertainment.
London, June 27th, 1863.
NOTA BENE. The English edition of Marco Polo, so often referred
to in my notes, is Mr. Hugh Murray’s fourth edition; Edinburgh,
Oliver and Boyd, (_no date_; more shame to Oliver and Boyd).
In my absence on the continent my friend Mr. Badger has
undertaken the correction of the press. The _revise_ sheets
have been sent to me, but in the absence of my manuscript and
references I fear some errors may still inevitably escape
correction.
The numbers to chapters and paragraphs have been attached by me,
H. Y.
FOOTNOTES
[22] I have to regret that unavoidable circumstances have interrupted my
pleasant task, and have compelled me to leave this preface, and some part
of the commentary, in a cruder state than I should have allowed, had time
permitted of the search for further particulars or illustrations of the
author’s life, mission, and descriptions.
[23] The French editor regards this as his surname. Is it not more
probably only the genitive of his father’s name?
[24] “Which I suspect to be _Conengue_ or _Khounouk_, a port of Persia,
on the Persian Gulf,” (_French Editor_). Speaking without having seen
the letter, I should rather suspect it to be the island and roadstead of
_Karrack_, called by the Arabs _Khârej_, but also locally, as appears by
the Government charts, _Khárg_. (My friend Mr. Badger thinks it may be
_El-Kât_, an ancient port still much frequented, fifty miles south-west
of the mouth of the Euphrates.) I find from M. D’Avezac in _Rec. de
Voyages_, (iv. 421), that this letter is published in _Quétif & Echard_,
Scriptoris Ordinis Dom., i. p. 549, and that the second letter is given
by _Wadding_, _Annales Minorum_, vi. 359.
[25] _Tauris_, Tabriz; _Tongan_, which the French editor calls
“Djagorgan” (?), is probably Daumghan in Persia, south of Astrabad,
mentioned by Marco Polo (ii. 17), with an allusion to the Christians
there; and _Marogo_ is Maragha in the plain east of Lake Urumia, formerly
the capital of the Tartar Hulaku.
[26] Which shows that the places indicated by Jordanus were in India.
Paroco is of course Baroch, and Columbum, Coulam or Quilon. Respecting
the identity of this last we shall, however, have to speak more fully.
Supera, the French editor states, after D’Anville, to be “the port now
called Sefer, the _Sefara el Hind_ of the Arabs.” It is doubtless the
Supara of Ptolomy, which he places on the north of the first great
river south of the Namadus or Nerbudda. Masudi also says that Sefara
was four days’ journey from Cambay. These indications fix Supera on the
Tapti, over against Surat, and probably as the ancient representative of
that port. (See Reinaud’s _Mém. sur la Géog. de l’Inde_, and Vincent’s
_Periplus of the Erythræan Sea_, p. 385.)
[27] A town on the island of Salsette, about twelve miles from Bombay,
and formerly a port of considerable importance.
[28] According to the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists, this martyrdom
took place, 1st April 1322. There is a letter from Francis of Pisa (I
presume in the MS. above quoted), a comrade and friend of Jordanus, which
gives similar details. They are also found in the _Bibliotheca Hispanica
Vetus_ of _Nicol. Antonio_, p. 268. (_French Editor’s Comment._) See also
below, pp. ix-xii.
[29] Quoted by the French editor from _Odericus Raynaldus_, _Annal.
Eccles._, No. 55.
[30] The French editor supposes _Semiscat_ to be, perhaps, a misreading
for Samirkat = _Samarkand_. Mr. Badger suggests judiciously _Someisât_,
the ancient Samosata. There was another see under Sultania, _viz._,
Verna, supposed by D’Avezac to be Orna or Ornas, which he identifies with
Tana, the seat of a Venetian factory at the mouth of the Don, on the site
of ancient Tanais. (_Rec. de Voy._, iv. 510.)
[31] The editor does not give his authority for this. Sultania was
destroyed by Tamerlane, and never recovered its former importance. It was
still a city of some size in the time of Chardin, but is now apparently
quite deserted. It is not mentioned by M. Polo.
[32] I conclude, from a passage near the end of the work (ch. xiv.), that
the actual residence of Jordanus at Columbum, previous to his writing,
lasted only a year, or thereabouts.
[33] I have now no doubt that the date in the next line is wrong. For,
according to M. D’Avezac (in the same volume of the _Rec. de Voyages_,
which contains Jordanus, p. 417), the celebrated traveller Odoricus
of Friuli, who was at Tana in 1322, sent home a letter describing
this martyrdom as having occurred in the preceding year. It is in the
Bib. Royale (now Impériale) at Paris. The narrative, in still greater
detail than here, is indeed to be found in the Itinerary of Odoricus,
as published in Hakluyt, at least in the Latin; the English translation
does not give the details. From this error in date, as well as the better
style of Latin, I should doubt if this chronicle was written by our
Jordanus.
[34] Diu, on the coast of Guzerat, where the old Portuguese warriors
afterwards made such a gallant defence against the “Moors” in 1547.
[35] Yusuf.
[36] _Sic._ I suppose it should be Abraham, according to the well-known
Mussulman tradition; perhaps called, as Mr. Badger kindly suggests,
_Aben_ (or Ibn) _Azer_, the son of Azer, the Mussulman name for Terah.
[37] In Keith Johnstone’s new and beautiful atlas Quilon is identified
with Kayan or Kain-Kulam. This, I have no doubt, is quite a mistake. The
places, though near, are quite distinct, and in the beginning of the
sixteenth century were under distinct sovereigns. I may here notice what
I venture, with respect, to think is an error in Mr. Major’s edition of
Conti (_India in the Fifteenth Century_). Conti, on his first arrival
in Malabar, lands at “Pudefitania,” and, after describing his visit to
Bengal, and his ascent of the Ganges, returns to Pudefitania. Mr. Major
interprets this in the last place _Burdwan_. But, apart from other
arguments, it is evidently in both passages the same place, _i.e._,
_Pudipatanam_, one of the old forgotten ports on the coast of Malabar,
but mentioned by Barbosa and the Geographer in Ramusio. Other names
mentioned by Conti are in need of examination. _Maarazia_, the great city
on the Ganges which he visits, is certainly not _Muttra_, as the editor
has it, but Benares. The Braminical name, _Baranási_, is near enough to
Conti’s.
[38] Wilson’s preface to Mackenzie’s Collections, p. xcviii.
[39] See the relations of Mahomedan voyagers published by Renaudot, and
again by Reinaud.
[40] See end of note to ch. v. para. 16.
MARVELS DESCRIBED BY FRIAR JORDANUS,
OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS, NATIVE OF SEVERAC, AND BISHOP OF COLUMBUM IN
INDIA THE GREATER.
I.
1. Between Sicily and Calabria there is a marvel in the sea. This is it:
on one side the sea runneth with an upward current, and on the other side
cometh down towards the island with a swifter stream than any river; and
so in the middle is caused a wondrous eddy, sucking down ships that hap
to fall in with it, whatever be their bigness. And ’tis said that in the
bottom of the sea there is a horrid kind of a whirlpool, from which the
water cometh forth so wondrous dark that even the fishes nowhere dare to
come near it.[41]
2. In Greece I neither saw nor heard of aught worth telling, unless it be
that between the island of Negropont and the mainland the sea ebbeth and
floweth sometimes thrice, sometimes four times, sometimes oftener, like a
rapid river; and that is a marvel to be sure![42]
3. I was at Thebes, where there be so many earthquakes that nobody could
believe it who had not felt them; for it will happen five, or six, or
seven times in the twenty-four hours, many a time and oft, that the
strongest houses and walls shall be thrown down by earthquakes.[43]
II.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING ARMENIA.
1. In Armenia the Greater I saw one great marvel. This is it: a mountain
of excessive height and immense extent, on which Noah’s ark is said to
have rested. This mountain is never without snow, and seldom or never
without clouds, which rarely rise higher than three parts up. The
mountain is inaccessible, and there never has been anybody who could get
farther than the edge of the snow.[44] And (marvellous indeed!) even the
beasts chased by the huntsmen, when they come to the snow, will liefer
turn, will liefer yield them into the huntsmen’s hands, than go farther
up that mountain. This mountain hath a compass of more than three days
journey for a man on horseback going without halt. There be serpents of
a great size, which swallow hares alive and whole, as I heard from a
certain trustworthy gentleman who saw the fact, and shot an arrow at a
serpent with a hare in his mouth, but scathed it not.[45] In a certain
part of the mountain is a dwelling which Noah is said to have built on
leaving the ark; and there, too, is said to be that original vine which
Noah planted, and whereby he got drunk; and it giveth such huge branches
of grapes as you would scarce believe. This I heard from a certain
Catholic archbishop of ours, a great man and a powerful, and trustworthy
to boot, the lord of that land; and, indeed, I believe I have been at the
place myself, but it was in the winter season.[46]
2. This country of Armenia the Greater is very extensive, and there three
of the apostles suffered martyrdom: Bartholomew, Simon, and Judas. I saw
a prison in which the two latter apostles were kept; and likewise springs
of water which they produced from the living rock, smiting it with a
rod VIII times, or X times, or XVII times (anyhow there be just as many
springs as there were blows struck); and hard by there was a church
built, beauteous and of wonderful bigness.[47]
3. In this same Armenia the Greater a certain glorious virgin suffered
martyrdom, the daughter of a king, and Scala by name.[48] And there,
too, was cast into a well, with a lion and a dragon, St. Gregory, who
converted Armenia to the Catholic faith, as well as its king Tertal,[49]
in the time of St. Sylvester and the Emperor Constantine.[50] In this
Armenia, too, was slain the blessed martyr Jacobus.
4. This province is inhabited chiefly by schismatic Armenians, but the
Preaching and Minor friars have converted a good four thousand of them,
and more. For one archbishop, a great man, called the Lord Zachary, was
converted with his whole people; and we trust in the Lord that in a
short time the whole residue shall be converted also, if only the good
friars go on so.[51]
5. There are many good and great Armenian princes, Christians; but the
Persian emperor hath the paramount sovereignty.[52]
6. In this Armenia there is a Dead Sea, very bitter to the taste, where
they say there be no fish at all, and which cannot be sailed upon by
reason of the stench; and it has an island where are buried many ancient
emperors and kings of the Persians, with an infinity of treasure; but
nobody is allowed to go there, or, if allowed, they dare not search for
the treasure.[53]
7. This Armenia extendeth in length from Sebast to the Plain of Mogan and
the Caspian Mountains; and in breadth from the Barcarian Mountains to
Tabriz,[54] which is a good twenty-three days’ journey, the length being
more than forty days.[55]
8. There is a certain lake, at the foot of the aforesaid great mountain,
where ten thousand martyrs were martyred, and in their martyrdom happened
all the same tokens as in the Passion of Christ, for that they all were
crucified for Christ.[56] And that part of the mountain is called Ararat;
and there was a city there called Semur, exceeding great, which was
destroyed by the Tartars.[57] I have been over all that country,—almost.
9. But I saw not anything else, in this Armenia the greater, worth
telling as a marvel.
III.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING THE REALM OF PERSIA.
1. In Persia, however, I saw a very marvellous thing: to wit, that in
Tabriz, which is a very great city, containing as many as two hundred
thousand houses,[58] dew never falls from heaven; nor doth it rain in
summer as in most parts it doth, but they water artificially everything
that is grown for man’s food.[59] There also, or thereabouts, on a
kind of willows, are found certain little worms, which emit a liquid
which congeals upon the leaves of the tree, and also drops upon the
ground, white like wax; and that excretion is sweeter than honey and the
honeycomb.[60]
2. There we have a fine-enough church, and about a thousand of the
schismatics converted to our faith, and about as many also in Ur of the
Chaldees, where Abraham was born, which is a very opulent city, distant
about two days from Tabriz.[61]
3. Likewise also at Sultania we have five hundred, or five hundred and
fifty. This is eight days’ distant from Tabriz, and we have a very fine
church there.
4. In this country of Persia are certain animals called _onagri_, which
are like little asses, but swifter in speed than our horses.[62]
5. This Persia is inhabited by Saracens and Saracenized Tartars, and by
schismatic Christians of divers sects, such as Nestorians, Jacobites,
Greeks, Georgians, Armenians, and by a few Jews. Persia hath abundance of
silk, and also of ultramarine,[63] but they wot not how to prepare it.
They have likewise exceeding much gold in the rivers, but they wot not
how to extract it, nor be they worthy to do so.
6. Persia extendeth about V[64] days’ journey in length, and as much in
breadth. The people of this realm live all too uncleanly, for they sit
upon the ground, and eke eat upon the same, putting mess and meats[65] in
a trencher for three, four, or five persons together. They eat not on a
table-cloth,[66] but on a round sheet of leather, or on a low table of
wood or brass, with three legs. And so six, seven, or eight persons eat
out of one dish, and that with their hands and fingers; big and little,
male and female, all eat after this fashion. And after they have eaten,
or even whilst in the middle of their eating, they lick their fingers
with tongue and lips, and wipe them on their sleeves,[67] and afterwards,
if any grease still remains upon their hands, they wipe them on their
shoes. And thus do the folk over all those countries, including Western
and Eastern Tartary, except the Hindus, who eat decently enough, though
they too eat with their hands.[68]
7. In Persia are some springs, from which flows a kind of pitch, which is
called _kic_[69] (_pix_, _dico_, _seu Pegua_), with which they smear the
skins in which wine is carried and stored.
8. Between this country of Persia and India the Less is a certain region
where manna falls in a very great quantity, white as snow, sweeter than
all other sweet things, delicious, and of an admirable and incredible
efficacy. There are also sandhills in great numbers, and very destructive
to men; for when the wind blows, the sand flows down just like water from
a tank.[70] These countries aforesaid, to wit, Persia, Armenia Major,
Chaldeia, as well as Cappadocia and Asia Minor and Greece, abound in good
fruits, meats, and other things, like our own country; but their lands
are not so populous,—no, not a tithe,—except Greece.
IV.
CONCERNING INDIA THE LESS.[71]
1. In the entrance to India the Less are [date] palms, giving a very
great quantity of the sweetest fruit; but further on in India they are
not found.[72]
2. In this lesser India are many things worthy to be noted with wonder;
for there are no springs, no rivers, no ponds; nor does it ever rain,
except during three months, viz., between the middle of May and the
middle of August; and (wonderful!) notwithstanding this, the soil is most
kindly and fertile, and during the nine months of the year in which it
does not rain, so much dew is found every day upon the ground that it is
not dried up by the sun’s rays till the middle of the third hour of the
day.[73]
3. Here be many and boundless marvels; and in this First India beginneth,
as it were, another world; for the men and women be all black, and they
have for covering nothing but a strip of cotton tied round the loins, and
the end of it flung over the naked back. Wheaten bread is there not eaten
by the natives, although wheat they have in plenty; but rice is eaten
with its seasoning,[74] only boiled in water. And they have milk and
butter and oil, which they often eat uncooked. In this India there be no
horses, nor mules, nor camels, nor elephants; but only kine, with which
they do all their doings that they have to do, whether it be riding, or
carrying, or field labour. The asses are few in number and very small,
and not much worth.[75]
4. The days and nights do not vary there more than by two hours at the
most.
5. There be always fruits and flowers there, divers trees, and fruits
of divers kinds; for (example) there are some trees which bear very big
fruit, called _Chaqui_; and the fruit is of such size that one is enough
for five persons.[76]
6. There is another tree which has fruit like that just named, and it is
called _Bloqui_, quite as big and as sweet, but not of the same species.
These fruits never grow upon the twigs, for these are not able to bear
their weight, but only from the main branches, and even from the trunk of
the tree itself, down to the very roots.
7. There is another tree which has fruit like a plum, but a very big one,
which is called _Aniba_. This is a fruit so sweet and delicious as it is
impossible to utter in words.[77]
8. There be many other fruit trees of divers kinds, which it would be
tedious to describe in detail.
9. I will only say this much, that this India, as regards fruit and
other things, is entirely different from Christendom; except, indeed,
that there be lemons there, in some places, as sweet as sugar, whilst
there be other lemons sour like ours.[78] There be also pomegranates, but
very poor and small. There be but few vines, and they make from them no
wine, but eat the fresh grapes; albeit there are a number of other trees
whose sap they collect, and it standeth in place of wine to them.
10. First of these is a certain tree called _Nargil_;[79] which tree
every month in the year sends out a beautiful frond like [that of] a
[date] palm-tree, which frond or branch produces very large fruit, as
big as a man’s head. There often grow on one such stem thirty of those
fruits as big as I have said. And both flowers and fruits are produced
at the same time, beginning with the first month and going up gradually
to the twelfth; so that there are flowers and fruit in eleven stages of
growth to be seen together. A wonder! and a thing which cannot be well
understood without being witnessed.[80] From these branches and fruits
is drawn a very sweet water. The kernel [at first] is very tender and
pleasant to eat; afterwards it waxeth harder, and a milk is drawn from
it as good as milk of almonds; and when the kernel waxeth harder still,
an oil is made from it of great medicinal virtue. And if any one careth
not to have fruit, when the fruit-bearing stem is one or two months old
he maketh a cut in it, and bindeth a pot to this incision; and so the
sap, which would have been converted into fruit, drops in; and it is
white like milk, and sweet like must, and maketh drunk like wine, so that
the natives do drink it for wine; and those who wish not to drink it so,
boil it down to one-third of its bulk, and then it becometh thick, like
honey; and ’tis sweet, and fit for making preserves, like honey and the
honeycomb.[81] One branch gives one potful in the day and one in the
night, on the average throughout the year:[82] thus five or six pots may
be found hung upon the same tree at once. With the leaves of this tree
they cover their houses during the rainy season.[83] The fruit is that
which we call _nuts of India_; and from the rind of that fruit is made
the twine with which they stitch their boats together in those parts.[84]
11. There is another tree of a different species, which like that gives
all the year round a white liquor pleasant to drink, which tree is called
_Tárí_.[85] There is also another, called _Belluri_, giving a liquor
of the same kind, but better.[86] There be also many other trees, and
wonderful ones; among which is one which sendeth forth roots from high
up, which gradually grow down to the ground and enter it, and then wax
into trunks like the main trunk, forming as it were an arch; and by this
kind of multiplication one tree will have at once as many as twenty
or thirty trunks beside one another, and all connected together. ’Tis
marvellous! And truly this which I have seen with mine eyes, ’tis hard to
utter with my tongue. The fruit of this tree is not useful, but poisonous
and deadly.[87] There is [also] a tree harder than all, which the
strongest arrows can scarcely pierce.
12. The trees in this India, and also in India the Greater, never shed
their leaves till the new ones come.[88]
13. To write about the other trees would be too long a business, and
tedious beyond measure; seeing that they are many and divers, and beyond
the comprehension of man.
14. But about wild beasts of the forest I say this: there be lions,
leopards, ounces, and another kind something like a greyhound, having
only the ears black and the whole body perfectly white, which among those
people is called _Siagois_.[89] This animal, whatever it catches, never
lets go, even to death. There is also another animal, which is called
_Rhinoceros_,[90] as big as a horse, having one horn long and twisted;
but it is not the _unicorn_.
15. There be also venomous animals, such as many serpents, big beyond
bounds, and of divers colours, black, red, white, and green, and
parti-coloured; two-headed also, three-headed, and five-headed. Admirable
marvels![91]
16. There be also coquodriles, which are vulgarly called _Calcatix_;[92]
some of them be so big that they be bigger than the biggest horse. These
animals be like lizards, and have a tail stretched over all, like unto
a lizard’s; and have a head like unto a swine’s, and rows of teeth so
powerful and horrible that no animal can escape their force, particularly
in the water. This animal has, as it were, a coat of mail; and there is
no sword, nor lance, nor arrow, which can anyhow hurt him, on account of
the hardness of his scales. In the water, in short, there is nothing so
strong, nothing so evil, as this wonderful animal. There be also many
other reptiles, whose names, to speak plainly, I know not.
17. As for birds, I say plainly that they are of quite different kinds
from what are found on this side of the world; except, indeed, crows and
sparrows;[93] for there be parrots and popinjays in very great numbers,
so that a thousand or more may be seen in a flock. These birds, when
tamed and kept in cages, speak so that you would take them for rational
beings. There be also bats really and truly as big as kites. These birds
fly nowhither by day, but only when the sun sets. Wonderful! By day they
hang themselves up on trees by the feet, with their bodies downwards, and
in the daytime they look just like big fruit on the tree.[94]
18. There are also other birds, such as peacocks, quails, Indian
fowls,[95] and others, divers in kind; some white as white can be, some
green as green can be, some parti-coloured, of such beauty as is past
telling.
19. In this India, when men go to the wars, and when they act as guards
to their lords, they go naked, with a round target,—a frail and paltry
affair,—and holding a kind of a spit[96] in their hands; and, truly,
their fighting seems like child’s play.
20. In this India are many and divers precious stones, among which
are the best diamonds under heaven. These stones never can be dressed
or shaped by any art, except what nature has given. But I omit the
properties of these stones, not to be prolix.
21. In this India are many other precious stones, endowed with excellent
virtues, which may be gathered by anybody; nor is anyone hindered.
22. In this India, on the death of a noble, or of any people of
substance, their bodies are burned: and eke their wives follow them
alive to the fire, and, for the sake of worldly glory, and for the love
of their husbands, and for eternal life, burn along with them, with as
much joy as if they were going to be wedded; and those who do this have
the higher repute for virtue and perfection among the rest. Wonderful!
I have sometimes seen, for one dead man who was burnt, five living women
take their places on the fire with him, and die with their dead.
23. There be also other pagan-folk in this India who worship fire; they
bury not their dead, neither do they burn them, but cast them into
the midst of a certain roofless tower, and there expose them totally
uncovered to the fowls of heaven. These believe in two First Principles,
to wit, of Evil and of Good, of Darkness and of Light, matters which at
present I do not purpose to discuss.[97]
24. There be also certain others which be called _Dumbri_, who eat
carrion and carcases; who have absolutely no object of worship; and who
have to do the drudgeries of other people, and carry loads.[98]
25. In this India there is green ginger, and it grows there in great
abundance.[99]
There be also sugar-canes in quantities; carobs also, of such size and
bigness that it is something stupendous.[100] I could tell very wonderful
things of this India; but I am not able to detail them for lack of time.
Cassia fistula is in some parts of this India extremely abundant.[101]
26. The people of this India are very clean in their feeding; true in
speech, and eminent in justice, maintaining carefully the privileges
of every man according to his degree, as they have come down from old
times.[102]
27. The heat there is perfectly horrible, and more intolerable to
strangers than it is possible to say.[103]
28. In this India there exists not, nor is found, any metal but what
comes from abroad, except gold, iron, and electrum. There is no pepper
there, nor any kind of spice except ginger.
29. In this India the greater part of the people worship idols, although
a great share of the sovereignty is in the hands of the Turkish Saracens,
who came forth from Multán, and conquered and usurped dominion to
themselves not long since, and destroyed an infinity of idol temples, and
likewise many churches, of which they made mosques for Mahomet, taking
possession of their endowments and property. ’Tis grief to hear, and woe
to see![104]
30. The Pagans of this India have prophecies of their own that we Latins
are to subjugate the whole world.[105]
31. In this India there is a scattered people, one here, another there,
who call themselves Christians, but are not so, nor have they baptism,
nor do they know anything else about the faith. Nay, they believe St.
Thomas the Great to be Christ!
32. There, in the India I speak of, I baptized and brought into the faith
about three hundred souls, of whom many were idolaters and Saracens.[106]
33. And let me tell you that among the idolaters a man may with safety
expound the Word of the Lord; nor is anyone from among the idolaters
hindered from being baptized throughout all the East, whether they be
Tartars, or Indians, or what not.
34. These idolaters sacrifice to their gods in this manner; to wit,
there is one man who is priest to the idol, and he wears a long shirt,
down to the ground almost, and above this a white surplice[107] in our
fashion; and he has a clerk with a shirt who goes after him, and carries
a hassock, which he sets before the priest. And upon this the priest
kneels, and so begins to advance from a distance, like one performing his
stations; and he carries upon his bent arms a tray of two cubits [long],
all full of eatables of different sorts, with lighted tapers at top; and
thus praying he comes up to the altar where the idol is, and deposits
the offering before it after their manner; and he pours a libation, and
places part [of the offering] in the hands of the idol, and then divides
the residue, and himself eats a part of it.
35. They make idols after the likeness of almost all living things
of the idolaters; and they have besides their god according to his
likeness.[108] It is true that over all gods they place One God, the
Almighty Creator of all those.[109] They hold also that the world has
existed now xxviii thousand years.[110]
The Indians, both of this India and of the other Indies, never kill an
ox, but rather honour him like a father; and some, even perhaps the
majority, worship him. They will more readily spare him who has slain
five men than him who has slain one ox, saying that it is no more lawful
to kill an ox than to kill one’s father. This is because oxen do all
their services, and moreover furnish them with milk and butter, and all
sorts of good things.[111] The great lords among the idolaters, every
morning when they rise, and before they go anywhither, make the fattest
cows come before them, and lay their hands upon them, and then rub their
own faces, believing that after this they can have no ailment.
36. Let this be enough about Lesser India; for were I to set forth
particulars of everything down to worms and the like, a year would not
suffice for the description.
37. But [I may say in conclusion] as for the women and men, the blacker
they be, the more beautiful they be [held.][112]
V.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING INDIA THE GREATER.
1. Of India the Greater I say this; that it is like unto Lesser India
as regards all the folk being black. The animals also are all similar,
neither more nor less [in number], except elephants, which they have [in
the former] in very great plenty. These animals are marvellous; for they
exceed in size and bulk and strength, and also in understanding, all the
animals of the world. This animal hath a big head; small eyes, smaller
than a horse’s; ears like the wings of owls or bats; a nose reaching
quite to the ground, extending right down from the top of his head; and
two tusks standing out of remarkable magnitude [both in] bulk and length,
which are [in fact] teeth rooted in the upper jaw. This animal doth
everything by word of command; so that his driver hath nothing to do but
say once, “Do this,” and he doeth it; nor doth he seem in other respects
a brute, but rather a rational creature. They have very big feet, with
six hoofs like those of an ox, or rather of a camel.[113] This animal
carrieth easily upon him, with a certain structure of timber, more than
thirty men; and he is a most gentle beast,[114] and trained for war, so
that a single animal counteth by himself equal in war to 1,500 men and
more; for they bind to his tusks blades or maces of iron wherewith he
smiteth. Most horrible are the powers of this beast, and specially in war.
2. Two things there be which cannot be withstood by arms: one is the
bolt of heaven; the second is a stone from an artillery engine; this is
a third! For there is nothing that either can or dare stand against the
assault of an elephant in any manner. A marvellous thing! He kneeleth,
lieth, sitteth, goeth and cometh, merely at his master’s word. In short,
it is impossible to write in words the peculiarities of this animal.
3. In this India there are pepper and ginger, cinnamon, brazil,[115] and
all other spices.
4. Ginger is the root of a plant which hath leaves like a reed. Pepper is
the fruit of a plant something like ivy, which climbs trees, and forms
grape-like fruit like that of the wild vine.[116] This fruit is at first
green, then when it comes to maturity it becomes all black and corrugated
as you see it. ’Tis thus that long pepper is produced, nor are you to
believe that fire is placed under the pepper, nor that it is roasted, as
some will lyingly maintain.[117] Cinnamon is the bark of a large tree
which has fruit and flowers like cloves.[118]
5. In this India be many islands, and more than 10,000 of them inhabited,
as I have heard; wherein are many world’s wonders.[119] For there is
one called Silem, where are found the best precious stones in the whole
world, and in the greatest quantity and number, and of all kinds.[120]
6. Between that island and the main are taken pearls or marguerites,
in such quantity as to be quite wonderful. So indeed that there
are sometimes more than 8,000 boats or vessels, for three months
continuously, [engaged in this fishery]. It is astounding, and almost
incredible, to those who have not seen it, how many are taken.
7. Of birds I say this: that there be many different from those of
Lesser India, and of different colours; for there be some white all over
as snow; some red as scarlet of the grain; some green as grass; some
parti-coloured; in such quantity and delectability as cannot be uttered.
Parrots also, or popinjays, after their kind, of every possible colour
except black, for black ones are never found; but white all over, and
green, and red, and also of mixed colours. The birds of this India seem
really like creatures of Paradise.[121]
8. There is also told a marvellous thing of the islands aforesaid, to wit
that there is one of them in which there is a water, and a certain tree
in the middle of it. Every metal which is washed with that water becomes
gold; every wound on which are placed the bruised leaves of that tree is
incontinently healed.
9. In this India, whilst I was at Columbum, were found two cats having
wings like the wings of bats;[122] and in Lesser India there be some rats
as big as foxes, and venomous exceedingly.[123]
10. In this India are certain trees which have leaves so big that five
or six men can very well stand under the shade of one of them.[124]
11. In the aforesaid island of Sylen is a very potent king, who hath
precious stones of every kind under heaven, in such quantity as to be
almost incredible. Among these he hath two rubies, of which he weareth
one hung round his neck, and the other on the hand wherewith he wipeth
his lips and his beard; and [each] is of greater length than the breadth
of four fingers, and when held in the hand it standeth out visibly
on either side to the breadth of a finger. I do not believe that the
universal world hath two stones like these, or of so great a price, of
the same species.[125]
12. There is also another island where all the men and women go
absolutely naked, and have in place of money comminuted gold like fine
sand. They make of the cloth which they buy walls like curtains;[126] nor
do they cover themselves or their shame at any time in the world.
13. There is also another exceeding great island, which is called
Jaua,[127] which is in circuit more than seven [thousand?] miles as I
have heard,[128] and where are many world’s wonders. Among which, besides
the finest aromatic spices, this is one, to wit, that there be found
pygmy men, of the size of a boy of three or four years old, all shaggy
like a he goat. They dwell in the woods, and few are found.[129]
14. In this island also are white mice, exceeding beautiful. There also
are trees producing cloves, which, when they are in flower, emit an odour
so pungent that they kill every man who cometh among them, unless he shut
his mouth and nostrils.[130]
15. There too are produced cubebs, and nutmegs, and mace, and all the
other finest spices except pepper.[131]
16. In a certain part of that island they delight to eat white and fat
men when they can get them.[132]
17. In the Greater India, and in the islands, all the people be black,
and go naked from the loins upwards, and from the knee downwards, and
without shoes.
18. But the kings have this distinction from others, that they wear upon
their arms gold and silver rings, and on the neck a gold collar with a
great abundance of gems.[133]
19. In this India never do [even] the legitimate sons of great kings, or
princes, or barons, inherit the goods of their parents, but only the sons
of their sisters; for they say that they have no surety that those are
their own sons, because wives and mistresses may conceive and generate by
some one else; but ’tis not so with the sister, for whatever man may be
the father they are certain that the offspring is from the womb of their
sister, and is consequently thus truly of their blood.[134]
20. In this Greater India many sacrifice themselves to idols in this
way. When they are sick, or involved in any grave mischance, they vow
themselves to the idol if they should happen to be delivered. Then,
when they have recovered, they fatten themselves for one or two years
continually, eating and drinking fat things, etc. And when another
festival comes round, they cover themselves with flowers and perfumes,
and crown themselves with white garlands, and go with singing and playing
before the idol when it is carried through the land (like the image of
the Virgin Mary here among us at the Rogation tides); and those men who
are sacrificing themselves to the idol carry a sword with two handles,
like those [knives] which are used in currying leather; and, after they
have shown off a great deal, they put the sword to the back of the neck,
cutting strongly with a vigorous exertion of both hands, and so cut off
their own heads before the idol.[135]
21. In this Greater India, in the place where I was, the nights and days
are almost equal, nor does one exceed the other in length at any season
by so much as a full hour.
22. In this India the sun keeps to the south for six months continuously,
casting the shadows to the north; and for the other six months keeps to
the north, casting the shadow to the south.[136]
23. In this India the Pole-star is seen very low, insomuch that I was at
one place where it did not show above the earth or the sea more than two
fingers’ breadth.[137]
24. There the nights, when the weather is fine and there is no moon, are,
if I err not, four times as clear as in our part of the world.
25. There also, if I err not, between evening and morning, often all the
planets may be seen; there are seen their influences [as it were] eye to
eye, so that ’tis a delightful thing there to look out at night![138]
26. From the place aforesaid is seen continually between the south and
the east a star of great size and ruddy splendour, which is called
Canopus, and which from these parts of the world is never visible.
27. There are many marvellous things in the cycle of those [heavenly
bodies] to delight a good astronomer.[139]
28. In this India, and in India the Less, men who dwell a long way from
the sea, under the ground and in woody tracts, seem altogether infernal;
neither eating, drinking, nor clothing themselves like the others who
dwell by the sea.[140]
29. There serpents too be numerous, and very big, of all colours in the
world; and it is a great marvel that they be seldom or never found to
hurt anybody unless first attacked.
30. There is there also a certain kind of wasps, which make it their
business to kill very big spiders whenever they find them, and afterwards
to bury them in the sand, in a deep hole which they make, and so to
cover them up that there is no man in the world who can turn them up, or
find the place.[141]
31. There is also a kind of very small ants, white as wool, which have
such hard teeth that they gnaw through even timbers and the joints of
stones,[142] and, in short, whatever dry thing they find on the face of
the earth, and mutilate woollen and cotton clothes. And they build out of
the finest sand a crust like a wall, so that the sun cannot reach them,
and so they remain covered. But if that crust happens to get broken, so
that the sun reaches them, they incontinently die.[143]
32. As regards insects, there be wonders, so many, great, and marvellous,
that they cannot be told.
33. There is also in this India a certain bird, big like a kite, having a
white head and belly, but all red above, which boldly snatches fish out
of the hands of fishermen and other people, and indeed [these birds] go
on just like dogs.[144]
34. There is also another big bird, not like a kite, which flies only at
night, and utters a voice in the night season like the voice of a man
wailing from the deep.[145]
35. What shall I say then? Even the Devil too there speaketh to men, many
a time and oft, in the night season, as I have heard.[146]
36. Every thing indeed is a marvel in this India! Verily it is quite
another world!
37. There is also a certain part of that India which is called Champa.
There, in place of horses, mules and asses, and camels, they make use of
elephants for all their work.[147]
38. ’Tis a wonderful thing about these animals, that when they are in a
wild state they challenge each other to war, and form troops [for the
purpose]; so that there will be sometimes a hundred against a hundred,
more or less; and they put the strongest and biggest and boldest at the
head, and thus attack each other in turn, so that within a short time
there will remain in one place XL or L killed and wounded, more or less.
And ’tis a notable thing that the vanquished, it is said, never again
appear in war or in the field.
39. These animals, on account of their ivory, are worth as much dead as
alive, nor are they ever taken when little, but only when big and full
grown.
40. And the mode of taking them is wonderful. Enclosures are made, very
strong, and of four sides, wherein be many gateways, and raised gates,
formed of very big and strong timbers. And there is one trained female
elephant which is taken near the place where the elephants come to feed.
The one which they desire to catch is pointed out to her, and she is told
to manage so as to bring him home. She goeth about him and about him,
and so contriveth by stroking him and licking him, as to induce him to
follow her, and to enter along with her the outer gate, which the keepers
incontinently let fall. Then, when the wild elephant turneth about,
the female entereth the second gate, which is instantly shut like the
first, and so the [wild] elephant remaineth caught between the two gates.
Then cometh a man, clothed in black or red, with his face covered, who
cruelly thrasheth him from above, and crieth out abusively against him
as against a thief; and this goeth on for five or six days, without his
getting anything to eat or drink. Then cometh another fellow, with his
face bare, and clad in another colour, who feigneth to smite the first
man, and to drive and thrust him away; then he cometh to the elephant and
talketh to him, and with a long spear he scratcheth him, and he kisseth
him, and giveth him food; and this goeth on for ten or fifteen days, and
so by degrees he ventureth down beside him, and bindeth him to another
elephant. And thus, after about twenty days, he may be taken out to be
taught and broken in.[148]
41. In this Greater India are twelve idolatrous kings, and more.[149]
For there is one very powerful king in the country where pepper grows,
and his kingdom is called Molebar. There is also the king of Singuyli
and the king of Columbum, the king of which is called Lingua, but his
kingdom Mohebar. There is also the king of Molephatam, whose kingdom is
called Molepoor, where pearls are taken in infinite quantities. There is
also another king in the island of Sylen, where are found precious stones
and good elephants. There be also three or four kings on the island of
Java, where the good spices grow. There be also other kings, as the king
of Telenc, who is very potent and great. The kingdom of Telenc abounds
in corn, rice, sugar, wax, honey and honeycomb, pulse, eggs, goats,
buffalos, beeves, milk, butter, and in oils of divers kinds, and in many
excellent fruits, more than any other part of the Indies. There is also
the kingdom of Maratha which is very great; and there is the king of
Batigala, but he is of the Saracens. There be also many kings in Chopa.
42. What shall I say? The greatness of this India is beyond description.
But let this much suffice concerning India the Greater and the Less.
VI.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING INDIA TERTIA.[150]
1. Of India Tertia I will say this, that I have not indeed seen its many
marvels, not having been there, but have heard them from trustworthy
persons. For example, there be dragons in the greatest abundance, which
carry on their heads the lustrous stones which be called carbuncles.
These animals have their lying-place upon golden sands,[151] and grow
exceeding big, and cast forth from the mouth a most fetid and infectious
breath, like the thickest smoke rising from fire. These animals come
together at the destined time, develope wings, and begin to raise
themselves in the air, and then, by the judgment of God, being too heavy,
they drop into a certain river which issues from Paradise, and perish
there.
2. But all the regions round about watch for the time of the dragons, and
when they see that one has fallen, they wait for lxx days, and then go
down and find the bare bones of the dragon, and take the carbuncle which
is rooted in the top of his head, and carry it to the emperor of the
Æthiopians, whom you call Prestre Johan.[152]
3. In this India Tertia are certain birds, which are called Roc, so big
that they easily carry an elephant up into the air. I have seen a certain
person who said that he had seen one of those birds, one wing only of
which stretched to a length of eighty palms.[153]
4. In this India are the true unicorns, like a great horse, having only
one horn in the forehead, very thick and sharp, but short, and quite
solid, marrow and all.[154] This creature,[155] it is said, is of such
fierceness that it will kill an elephant, nor can it be captured except
by a virgin girl. All the parts of that creature are of wonderful virtue,
and the whole of them good for medicine.
5. There are other animals also of very divers species: thus, there is
one like a cat, whose sweat is of such good odour that it surpasses all
the other scents in the world, and that sweat is thus collected. When it
sweats it rubs itself on a certain wood, and there [the sweat] becomes
coagulated; then men come and collect it, and carry it away.[156]
6. Between this India and Æthiopia is said to be, towards the east, the
terrestrial paradise; for from those parts come down the four rivers of
Paradise, which abound exceedingly in gold and gems.
7. There be serpents with horns, and some with precious stones.[157]
8. The men of that land are very black, pot-bellied, fat, but short;
having thick lips and squab nose, overhanging forehead, and hideous
countenances, whilst they go altogether naked.
9. I have seen many of them. They hunt the most savage beasts, such as
lions, ounces, and leopards, and most dreadful serpents; wild men they
be, wild against wild beasts!
10. In this India is found embar, which is like wood, and exceeding
fragrant, and is called _gemma marina_, or the Treasure of the Sea.[158]
11. There also be certain animals like an ass, but with transverse
stripes of black and white, such as that one stripe is black and the next
white. These animals be wonderfully beautiful.
12. Between this India and India the Greater, are said to be islands of
women only, and of men only, such that the men cannot live long in the
islands of the women, and _vice versa_.
13. But they can live there for some x or xv days and cohabit; and when
the women produce male children they send them to the men, and when
female children they retain them.[159]
14. There are many other different islands in which are men having the
heads of dogs, but their women are said to be beautiful.[160] I cease not
to marvel at the great variety of islands that there be.
15. Let this suffice about India Tertia and the islands for the present.
VII.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING THE GREATER ARABIA.
1. I have been in the Greater Arabia, but can tell little, except that
there grow there choice incense and myrrh.
2. The natives of this Arabia are all black, very crafty and lean, with
voices like that of a little boy. They dwell in caverns and holes on the
ground: they eat fish, herbs, and roots, and nothing else.[161]
3. This Arabia hath very great deserts, pathless and very dry.
4. Of Æthiopia, I say that it is a very great land, and a very hot. There
are many monsters there, such as gryphons that guard the golden mountains
which be there. Here, too, be serpents and other venomous beasts, of vast
size and venomous exceedingly.
5. There, too, are very many pretious stones. The lord of that land I
believe to be more potent than any man in the world, and richer in gold
and silver and in pretious stones. He is said to have under him fifty-two
kings, rich and potent. He ruleth over all his neighbours towards the
south and the west.
6. In this Æthiopia are two burning mountains, and between them a
mountain of gold. The people of the country are all Christians, but
heretics. I have seen and known many folk from those parts.
7. To that emperor the Soldan of Babylon giveth every year 500,000
ducats[162] of tribute as ’tis said.
8. I can tell nothing more of Æthiopia, not having been there.
VIII.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING THE GREAT TARTAR.[163]
1. Of the Great Tartar, I relate what I have heard from trustworthy
persons; to wit, that he is very rich, very just, and very generous.
He hath under him four realms as big as the realm of France, and well
peopled too. In his dominions every person who cannot get a livelihood,
may, an he will, have victual and raiment from that lord, all the days of
his life.[164]
2. In his dominion is current, in place of money, paper stamped with
black ink, with which can be procured gold, silver, silk, gems, and in
short all that man can desire.[165]
3. In that empire are idol-temples, and also monasteries of men and
women as with us; and they have a choral service and sermons just like
us; and the great pontiffs of the idols wear red hats and capes like our
cardinals. ’Tis incredible what splendour, what pomp, what festivity is
made in the idol sacrifices.[166]
4. There they burn not their dead; nor do they bury them sometimes for
ten years. Some defer this because they have not the means to perform the
sacrifices and the obsequies as they would wish. But they keep the body
in the house, and serve it with food as if it were alive.
5. The great lords, when they die, are buried with a horse, and with one
or two of their best beloved slaves alive.[167]
6. In that empire are very great cities, as I have heard tell from those
who have seen them; and there is one called Hyemo which it taketh a day’s
journey on horseback to cross, by a direct street through the middle of
it.[168]
7. I have heard that that emperor hath two hundred cities under him
greater than Toulouse; and I certainly believe them to have more
inhabitants.
8. The folk of that empire be marvellously well-mannered, clean,
courteous, and liberal withal.
9. In that empire rhubarb is found, and musk. And musk is the navel of a
certain wild animal like a goat, from which, when it is taken alive, the
skin of the navel is cut in a round form, and the blood which flows from
the wound is gathered and put into the said skin, and dried; and that
makes the best musk in the world.
10. There are no other things in that empire that I am acquainted with
worthy to be described, except the very beautiful and noble earthenware,
full of good qualities, and [which is called] porcelain.[169]
11. When the emperor dies, he is carried by certain men with a very great
treasure to a certain place, where they place the body, and run away
as if the devil were after them, and others are ready incontinently to
snatch up the body and bear it in like manner to another place, and so on
to the place of burial; and they thus do that the place may not be found,
and consequently that no one may be able to steal the treasure.[170]
12. Nor is the death of the emperor made known until another has been
secretly established on the throne by his relations and the chiefs.[171]
13. That emperor bestows greater alms than any prince or lord in the
world.
14. The people subject to him are for the most part idolaters.
IX.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING CALDEA.
1. Of Caldea I will say not much, but yet what is greatly to be wondered
at; to wit, that in a place of that country stood Babylon, now destroyed
and deserted, where are hairy serpents and monstrous animals. In the same
place also, in the night season, are heard such shoutings, such howlings,
such hissings, that it is called Hell. There no one would dare to pass a
single night, even with a great army, on account of the endless terrors
and spectres.[172]
2. When I was there, there was seen a tortoise that carried five men on
its back.[173]
3. Also a two-headed animal, exceeding frightful, which dared to wade
across the Euphrates, and to chase the inhabitants on the other side.[174]
4. Also there be there serpents of such bulk that it is horrible to hear
tell of; and I believe that that land is the habitation of demons.
X.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING THE LAND OF ARAN.
Concerning Aran I say nothing at all, seeing that there is nothing worth
noting.[175]
XI.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING THE LAND OF MOGAN.[176]
1. From the land of Mogan came three kings to worship the Lord.
2. And in a certain place there, which is called Bacu, are pits dug,
whence is extracted and drawn a certain oil, which is called _naft_;
and it is a very warm oil of medicinal virtue, and it burneth passing
well.[177]
XII.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING THE CASPIAN HILLS.
Of the Caspian Hills I say that there they sacrifice sheep upon a cross,
and they call themselves Christians, though they are not so, and know
nothing of the faith.[178] Among those mountains are more than fifteen
different nations.
XIII.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING GEORGIANA.
Of Georgiana [I have to say] that it is entirely like our country; and
all the people are Christians and warriors.[179]
XIV.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING THE DISTANCES OF COUNTRIES.
1. Now I will mention in a brief statement the distances of the
countries. Know ye, then, that from this place to Constantinople ’tis
about three thousand miles or more.
2. From Constantinople to Tanan[180] or Tartary is a thousand miles,
going always towards the east, and by sea.
3. The empire of Persia beginneth at Trebizond, which is a city of the
Greeks, situated in the furthest bight of the Moorish Sea. And that
empire[181] extendeth far; for it includeth Lesser Asia, Cilicia,[182]
Media, Cappadocia, Lycia, Greater Armenia, Caldea, Georgiana, part of
the Caspian Hills and Mogan,—whence came those three kings to worship
Christ,[183]—even to the Iron Gates,[184] and all Persia, with some part
of Lesser India; so that the empire extendeth across from the Black Sea
to the Indian Sea, and so great is the distance as to equal lxxxx days of
ordinary journey with cattle, or more.
4. Then Lesser India extendeth four-square over LX days’ journey, and is
entirely level.
5. But the Greater India extendeth over more than CLXX days’ journey,
excluding the islands, of which there be more than XII thousand
inhabited, and more than VIII thousand uninhabited, as those say who
navigate that sea. And [this India also] is nearly all a plain.
6. But the vessels of these Indies be of a marvellous kind. For although
they be very great, they be not put together with iron, but stitched
with a needle, and a thread made of a kind of grass. Nor are the vessels
ever decked over, but open, and they take in water to such an extent that
the men always, or almost always, must stand in a pool to bale out the
water.
7. Cathay is a very great empire, which extendeth over more than C days’
journey; and it hath only one lord, whereas the case with the Indies is
the very opposite, for there be therein many kings, many princes, not one
of whom holdeth himself tributary to another.
8. And the dominion of Æthiopia is great exceedingly; and I believe, and
lie not, that the population thereof is, at the least, three times that
of our Christendom.[185]
9. But other two empires of the Tartars, as I have heard, to wit, that
which was formerly of Cathay, but now is of Osbet, which is called
Gatzaria, and the empire of Dua and Cayda, formerly of Capac and now of
Elchigaday, extend over more than CC days’ journey.[186]
10. The vessels which they navigate in Cathay be very big, and have
upon the ship’s hull more than C cabins, and with a fair wind they carry
X sails, and they are very bulky, being made of three thicknesses of
plank, so that the first thickness is as in our great ships, the second
cross-wise, the third again long-wise. In sooth, ’tis a very strong
affair.[187] It is true that they venture not far out to sea; and that
Indian sea is seldom or never boisterous, and when it does rise to such a
degree as they deem awfully perilous, it is such weather as our mariners
here would deem splendid. For one of the men of our country would there
(’tis no lie), be reckoned at sea worth a hundred of theirs and more.
11. Græcia[188] also is of great extent, but of how many days’ journey I
wot not.
12. One general remark I will make in conclusion; to wit, that there
is no better land or fairer, no people so honest, no victuals so good
and savoury, dress so handsome, or manners so noble, as here in our own
Christendom; and, above all, we have the true faith, though ill it be
kept. For, as God is my witness, ten times better [Christians], and more
charitable withal, be those who be converted by the Preaching and Minor
friars to our faith, than our own folk here, as experience hath taught me.
13. And of the conversion of those nations of India, I say this: that if
there were two hundred or three hundred good friars, who would faithfully
and fervently preach the Catholic faith, there is not a year which would
not see more than X thousand persons converted to the Christian faith.
14. For, whilst I was among those schismatics and unbelievers, I believe
that more than X thousand, or thereabouts, were converted to our faith,
and because we, being few in number, could not occupy, or even visit,
many parts of the land, many souls (wo is me!) have perished, and
exceeding many do yet perish for lack of preachers of the Word of the
Lord. And ’tis grief and pain to hear how, through the preachers of the
perfidious and accursed Saracens, those sects of the heathen be day by
day perverted. For their preachers run about, just as we do, here, there,
and everywhere over the whole Orient, in order to turn all to their own
miscreance.[189] These be they who accuse us, who smite us, who cause us
to be cast into durance, and who stone us; as I indeed have experienced,
having been four times cast into prison by them, I mean the Saracens. But
how many times I have had my hair plucked out, and been scourged, and
been stoned, God himself knoweth and I, who had to bear all this for my
sins, and yet have not attained to end my life as a martyr for the faith,
as did four of my brethren. For what remaineth God’s will be done! Nay,
five Preaching Friars and four Minors were there in my time cruelly slain
for the Catholic faith.
Wo is me that I was not with them there!
15. I believe moreover that the king of France might subdue the whole
world to his own dominion and to the Christian faith, without the aid of
any other.
XV.
HERE FOLLOWETH CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF CHIOS.
I have seen an island called Chios, where groweth mastick in very great
abundance; nor do those trees when planted anywhere else in the whole
world produce mastick. Mastick is the gum of a very noble tree. That
island was held by a very noble Genoese, by name Martin Zachary, a most
worthy sea captain, who slew or took more than ten thousand Turks.
But, alackaday! the rascally emperor of Constantinople, Greek that he
was, got possession of the island by treason, a thing most deeply to be
lamented; and all the more that the captain was taken in person, and made
a prisoner.
XVI.
CONCERNING TURKEY.[190]
1. I was also in Turkey, in a certain camp on the coast of the main,
held by a noble Genoese, by name Andreolo Cathani, who hath with him
only fifty-two knights[191] and four hundred foot soldiers. He doth much
scathe to the Turks. And there he himself maketh alum, without which
no cloth can be properly dyed; and ’tis made in a marvellous way, nor
do I believe that the art could have been invented by human ingenuity,
but rather by the Holy Spirit.[192] For thus it is: stones be taken
from under the ground, not stones of any kind, but such as be specially
suitable, for few be found of that kind. And these stones be baked like
bricks or pottery, and that in great quantity and for many days, and
with a most potent fire. The stones be afterwards placed on a great
platform, and water is poured upon them, and this two or three times a
day for a month continuously, so that the stones become like [slaked]
lime. Afterwards they be placed in great caldrons with water, and that
which falleth to the bottom is extracted with great iron ladles. Then
four-square tanks of plaster are prepared, numerous and large, and into
these the water from the caldrons is poured, and there gradually taketh
place a precipitation like crystal, and that is choice alum.[193]
2. In this Turkey be the VII Churches to which wrote the Blessed John
in the Apocalypse, who also ordered a sepulchre to be dug for him in
Ephesus, whereinto he entered and was seen no more. But I will tell one
very marvellous thing concerning that excavation, as I heard it from a
certain devout religious person, who was there and heard it with his own
ears. From time to time is heard there a very loud sound, as of a man
snoring, and yet is the sepulchre void.[194]
3. This Turkey, which is called Asia Minor, is inhabited by the Turks,
and by a few schismatic Greeks and Armenians. Which Turks be most
rascally Saracens, and capital archers withal, and the most warlike and
perfidious of all mankind.
4. The country is very fertile, but uncultivated; for the Turks trouble
not themselves.[195]
EXPLICIT.
FOOTNOTES
[41] Admiral Smyth says that the currents in the Faro are so numerous and
varied, that it is difficult to ascertain anything precise about them. In
settled seasons a central stream runs north and south, at the rate of two
to five miles an hour. On each shore there is a _refluo_, or counter-set,
often forming eddies to the central current. When the main current runs
to the north it is called _Rema montante_, or flood; when it runs south,
_Rema scendente_, or ebb; and this has obtained, perhaps, even from the
days of Eratosthenes. He considers that the _special_ danger from the
Faro currents is insignificant. There are dangerous _squalls_ from the
ravines or river-beds on the high Calabrian coast.
He admits some little more of reality in the celebrated vortex of
Charybdis, which must have been formidable to the undecked vessels of the
ancients; for in the present day small craft are sometimes endangered,
and he has seen even a seventy-four whirled round on its surface. The
“Galofaro” appears to be an agitated water of from seventy to ninety
fathoms in depth, circling in quick eddies, but rather an incessant
undulation than a whirlpool, and the cases are only extreme when any
vortiginous ripples threaten danger to laden boats. “It is owing probably
to the meeting of the harbour and lateral currents with the main one,
the latter being forced over in this direction by the opposite point
of Pezzo. This agrees in some measure with the relation of Thucydides,
who calls it a violent reciprocation of the Tyrrhene and Sicilian seas,
and he is the only writer of remote antiquity I remember to have read
who has assigned this danger its true situation, and not exaggerated
its effects.” (_Abridged from_ Smyth’s _Mediterranean_, pp. 180-1). Our
author seems to mix up the two phenomena in his exaggerated account. The
_upward and downward current_ suggest that he had heard the local terms
quoted by Admiral Smyth.
[42] “The breadth of the Euripus is diminished by a rock in mid-channel,
on which a fort is built, dividing it into two channels: that towards the
main, though rather the broader, is only practicable for small boats, as
there is not more than three feet water at any time. Between the rock and
the walls of Egripos is a distance of 33 feet, and the least depth at the
highest water is 7 feet. It is here that the extraordinary tides take
place for which the Euripus was formerly so noted; at times the water
runs as much as eight miles an hour, with a fall under the bridge of 1½
foot; but what is most singular is, that vessels lying 150 yards from the
bridge are not the least affected by this rapid. It remains but a short
time in a quiescent state, changing its direction in a few minutes, and
almost immediately resuming its velocity, which is generally from four
to five miles an hour either way, its greatest rapidity being, however,
always to the southward. The results of three months’ observation, in
which the above phenomena were noted, afforded no sufficient data for
reducing them to any regularity.”—_Penny Cyclop._, Article _Eubœa_. See
also _Leake_ (_Tr. in Northern Greece_, ii. p. 257), who quotes Wheler
and Spon.
[43] Greece generally is subject to earthquakes, but I cannot find
evidence that Thebes is particularly so.
[44] The first ascent of Ararat is well known to have been made by
Professor Parrot, of Dorpat, 9th October, 1829, whose account of his
journey has been translated by Mr. Cooley.
“From the summit downwards, for nearly two-thirds of a mile
perpendicular, or nearly three miles in an oblique direction, it is
covered with a crown of eternal snow and ice” (_Parrot’s Journey_, p.
133). As to the clouds, the same author remarks with regard to a drawing
of Ararat: “The belt of clouds about the mountain is characteristic”
(p. 137). And Smith and Dwight (_Researches in Armenia_, p. 266) say
that they were prevented by clouds from seeing it for three weeks. It is
believed in the country that the Ark still exists on the mountain, access
to which has been forbidden by Divine decree since Noah’s time. A holy
monk called Jacob resolved to convince himself by inspection. But in his
ascent of the mountain he three times was overtaken by sleep, and each
time found that he had unconsciously lost the ground that he had gained
when awake. At last an angel came to him when again asleep, and told him
that his zeal was fruitless, but was to be rewarded by a fragment of
the wood of the Ark, a sacred relic still preserved in the Cathedral of
Echmiazin. (_Parrot_, and _Smith and Dwight_); see also the narrative of
_Guillaume de Rubruk_ (Rubruquis), in _Rec. de Voyages_, iv. p. 387.
[45] Stories of serpents seem to be rife in Armenia. On the Araxes,
south of Nakhcheván (see note below), is a mountain called the Serpent
Mountain, where serpents are said to collect in such numbers at
certain times, that no man or beast dare approach. (See _Haxthausen’s
Transcaucasia_, pp. 144, 181, 353, etc.)
[46] The name of the province and town of Nakhcheván, east of Ararat,
signifies “first place of descent, or of lodging.” The antiquity of the
tradition is proved by the fact, that Josephus affirms that the Armenians
call the place where the Ark rested “_the place of descent_;” whilst
Ptolemy supplies the name of Naxuana. (_Smith and Dwight_, p. 255.)
The place alluded to by Jordanus appears to be Arguri, the only village
upon Ararat. Here Noah is said to have built his altar on the exact spot
now occupied by the church, and it is of the vineyards of Arguri that the
Scripture is believed to speak when it is said that “Noah began to be
an husbandman, and planted a vineyard.” The church is of unascertained
but remote date; and the name of the place signifies (_Argh-urri_) “He
planted the vine.” (_Parrot_, p. 122.) At Nakhcheván “the grapes were
almost unequalled in excellence, and seemed to deserve the honour of
growing on the spot.” (_Smith and Dwight_, p. 256.) Arguri was buried
by an earthquake, accompanied by volcanic indications, July 2nd, 1840.
(_Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, Art. Ararat._)
[47] The Armenian belief is, that Thaddeus, one of the Seventy, was,
after the Ascension, sent by St. Thomas, according to commands given
him by the Lord, to Abgarus of Edessa, who had written the celebrated
letter. Thaddeus, and Bartholomew who followed him, were successively put
to death by Sanatruk, the heathen nephew of Abgarus. Jude also came to
preach in Armenia, and was put to death in Ormi (Urumia). The mission of
Simon I do not find mentioned, but Chardin states that his body was said
to be preserved in one of the churches. (See _Avdall’s_ Tr. of _Chamich’s
Hist. of Armenia_. Calcutta, 1827, pp. 107-111, and _Smith and Dwight_.)
[48] The virgin must be _Rhipsime_, said to have been of the house of
Claudius Cæsar, who, with Kayane and thirty-seven other holy virgins,
were put to death in the time of Dioclesian. There are churches dedicated
to R. and K. at Echmiazin. (_Smith and Dwight._)
[49] Tertal is Tiridates, in Armenian Dertad = Theodosius. (_Smith and
Dwight._)
[50] St. Gregory, called The Illuminator, born A.D. 257, consecrated
Archbishop of Armenia 302. He is said to have revived (probably
_introduced_) Christianity in Armenia, and, after suffering persecution
at the hands of King Tiridates, converted him and his whole people. The
place alluded to by Jordanus is at the convent of Khor-virab (“Deep
pit”), on the Araxes, under Ararat. Here Gregory is believed to have
been confined in a cave with serpents, and in the endurance of manifold
torments, for fourteen years. (_Smith and Dwight_, p. 273. See also
_Chardin_, p. 251. _Curzon’s Armenia_ has a concise account of the
Armenian church.)
[51] “The ancient and extensive Dominican mission, which once had its
seat in this province, (Nakhcheván) is now no more. It was commenced
about 1320 by an Italian papal monk of the Dominican order. Such success
attended it that soon nearly thirty Armenian villages embraced the faith
of Rome, and acknowledged subjection to a papal bishop, who after being
consecrated at Rome resided in the village of Aburan, with the title of
Archbishop of Nakhcheván.” (_Smith and Dwight_, p. 257.)
[52] At this time a Tartar successor of Hulaku.
[53] This Dead Sea is doubtless the Lake of Urumia, the waters of which
are salter than sea water. It appears to be about ninety miles in length
from north to south. There are no fish in it. It contains several
islands, or peninsulas which are occasionally islands, two of which have
been used as fortresses. In one of these Hulaku the Tartar conqueror of
Baghdad was said to have stored his treasures. Another is said to be “as
old as the days of Zoroaster,” who is believed to have been born in the
vicinity. I do not find tombs mentioned. (_Penny Cyc._ in v. _Azerbijan_,
also _Monteith_ in _Jour. Geog. Soc._ iii. 55, and _Smith and Dwight_,
348.)
[54] “_Thaurisium._”
[55] Sebast is doubtless Sivas, called by Marco Polo Sebastos, anciently
Sebasteia (_Smith’s Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Geo._) south of Tokat, and
giving name to a pachalik. The Barcarian mountains appear as _Barchal
Dagh_ running parallel to the Black Sea between Trebizond and Kars.
(_Stieler’s Hand-Atlas_, 43a.) Mogan is _Orogan_ in the original, but,
as we shall see below, this is an error of transcription. The _Plain_
of Mogan is the great plain extending from the eastern foot of Caucasus
along the Caspian, and stretching to the south of the Cyrus and Araxes.
Here Pompey’s career eastward is said to have been arrested by the
venomous serpents with which the long grass of the plain is infested. The
dread of these serpents still exists. “Their hissing is heard from afar,
and they seem to rise from the grass like fish from the sea”, Kinneir was
told. Here the camp of Heraclius was pitched, as was that of the Tartar
hosts for many months during their invasion of Armenia in the thirteenth
century, and that of Nadir Shah when he placed the crown upon his head.
(_Macd. Kinneir’s Mem. of Persia_, 153; _Avdall’s Hist. of Armenia._)
[56] The Lake appears to be Gokchai or Sevan, north-east of Erivan. There
is a small island with a monastery upon it. There are many traditions
attached to the monasteries in this vicinity, but I cannot find this one.
[57] Perhaps Erivan, but I cannot trace the name.
[58] Sir John Chardin (356) says he may “truly reck’n” the population of
Tauris to be 550,000 persons, and that several in the city would have it
to be double that number! yet he had said just before that it contained
15,000 houses and 15,000 shops, so that 150,000 souls would be a liberal
estimate. It appears now to contain from 30,000 to 50,000. Kinneir
calls it one of the most wretched cities in Persia. Such estimates of
city population are common enough still. Many books and many gentlemen
in India will still tell us that Benares contains half a million, and
that Lucknow before 1857 contained 700,000; the fact being, as regards
Benares, that by _census_ and including its suburbs it contains 171,668;
whilst the estimate for Lucknow was probably five or six times the truth.
I suspect the usual estimate of 900,000 in the city of Madras to be of
equal value.
[59] At Tabriz “dew is entirely unknown, and not more than two or three
showers fall between March and December. The plain around is very fertile
where irrigated.” (_Penny Cyc._)
[60] The only manna I have known in India was exuded by a tamarisk; but
it appears to be produced on various shrubs in Persia and the adjoining
countries, camelthorns, tamarisks, and others. And one kind called
_Bed-kisht_ is produced on a species of willow. (_Bed_ signifies a
_willow_.) Some kinds of manna are used as sugar. (See _Pen. Cyc._ in v.
_Manna_.) This authority does not seem to recognize the agency of any
insect in its production. But Macdonald Kinneir (in his _Memoir of the
Persian Empire_, p. 329) has the following note. “Manna is exported from
Moosh, on the Euphrates [west of Lake Van] in considerable quantities.
It is termed _guz_ by the Persians, and found in great quantities in
Louristan, and in the district of Khonsar in Irak. It is taken from a
small shrub, in appearance not unlike a funnel, about four feet in height
and three in diameter at the top. The _guz_ is said to be produced by
small insects, which are seen to move in vast numbers under the small and
narrow leaves of the shrub.—These were always in motion, and continued
to crawl between the bark and the leaves. The _guz_ is collected during
the months of August and September in the following manner. A vessel of
an oval form being placed under the bush as a receptacle, the leaves are
beat every third day with a crooked stick covered with leather. The manna
when first gathered has the tenacity and appearance of gum, but, when
exposed to the heat of 90° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer, it dissolves into
a liquid resembling honey. When mixed with sweetmeat its tenacity resists
the application of the knife, but when suddenly struck it shivers into
pieces.”
[61] There is a town called in the maps _Ahar_, about fifty miles
north-east of Tabriz, but I cannot find that this was ever considered to
be Ur of the Chaldees. Urfa, which is generally supposed to be Ur, is in
quite another region, more than four hundred miles from Tabriz.
[62] Wild asses are found in the dry regions from the frontiers of Syria
to the Runn of Cutch, and north to 48° lat. Ferrier mentions herds of
hundreds between Mushid and Herat, and on the banks of the Khashrood,
south of Herat. “They are fleet as deer,” he says. Their flesh is more
delicate than Persian beef, and the Afghans consider it a great delicacy,
as did the old Roman epicures. This species, as I learn from a note
with which Mr. Moore, of the India Museum, has kindly favoured me, is
_Asinus Onager_, the _Kulan_ or _Ghor-khar_ of the Persians. That of
Syria and Northern Arabia is the _Asinus Hemippus_, the Hemionus of
the ancients; whilst the _Kyang_ or _Jiggetai_ (_Equus Hemionus_ of
Pallas, _E. Polyodon_ of Hodgson) inhabits Tibet and thence northward
to southern Siberia; and the true wild ass (_E. asinus_) is indigenous
to north-eastern Africa, and perhaps to south Arabia and the island of
Socotra.
[63] “_Lapis azurii_,” hod. _lapis lazuli_. Quantities of this are found
in Badakshan. (_Burnes_, _Bokhara_, ii. 205. 8vo ed.)
[64] _Sic._ Probably L, or LV is intended.
[65] “_Ferculum et carnem._”
[66] “_Tobalia._”
[67] The Afghans exceed the practices here graphically described; for
they, I believe, often expectorate in the hairy sleeve of the _postin_,
which in winter they wear after the fashion of Brian O’Linn, “with the
leather side out and the woolly side in.” Scott Waring (_Tour to Shiraz_,
p. 103) notices the dirty table habits of the Persians.
[68] The friar’s remarks seem to shew that forks were common in Europe
earlier than is generally represented to be the case.
[69] No doubt it should be _kīr_, which is bituminous pitch in Persian.
What the parenthesis means I cannot make out. _Pegua_ can scarcely be a
reference to the petroleum of Pegu at this early date?
[70] Burnes describes the vast fields of soft sand, formed into ridges,
between Bokhara and the Oxus. Their uniformity is remarkable, all
having the shape of a horse-shoe, convex towards the north, from which
the prevailing wind blows. On this side they slope, inside they are
precipitous. The height is from fifteen to twenty feet. “The particles of
sand, moving from one mound to another, wheeling in the eddy or interior
of the semicircle, and having now and then, particularly under the rays
of the sun, much the look of water, an appearance, I imagine, which has
given rise to the opinion of moving sands in the desert.” (_Bokhara_, ii.
pp. 1, 2.)
Our author may possibly have heard of the _Reg-rawán_, or “flowing sand,”
of the Koh Daman, near Istalif. (See _Wood’s Oxus_, p. 181.)
[71] It may be gathered from what follows, that Lesser India embraces
Sindh, and probably Mekrán, and India along the coast as far as some
point immediately north of Malabar. Greater India extends from Malabar
very indefinitely to the eastward, for he makes it include Champa
(Cambodia). India Tertia is the east of Africa.
According to the old Portuguese geographer, whose “Summary of Kingdoms,”
etc., is given by Ramusio, _First India_ (see text, next page), ends at
Mangalore, _Second India_ at the Ganges.
Marco Polo reverses the titles given by our author. He makes Greater
India extend from Maabar (south part of the Coromandel coast) to
Kesmacoran (Kidj-mekrán or Mekrán), whilst Lesser India stretches from
the Coromandel to Champa. Abyssinia, Marco calls _Middle India_. (See
_Murray’s Polo_, pt. ii. ch. xxxvi.) Benjamin of Tudela speaks of “Middle
India which is called Aden.” Conti says all India is divided into three
parts, the first extending from Persia (Ormus?) to the Indus, the second
from the Indus to the Ganges, the third all beyond.
It is worth noting that Pliny says it was disputed whether Gedrosia
(Mekrán), etc., belonged to India or to Ariana. (vi. p. 23.)
[72] I believe this is substantially correct. Sindh is the only province
in India that produces edible dates. A date-palm is found all over India,
but the fruit is worthless.
[73] Till half-past nine o’clock. “_Quod usque ad mediam tertiam per
solis radios ullâtenus possit desiccari._” “The dews” in Lower Sindh,
says Burnes, “are very heavy and dangerous.” (iii. p. 254.) The fertility
of the country is, however, confined to the tracts inundated or irrigated
from the Indus and its branches. As to the absence of rain, Dr. Lord
says, that “the rainfall registered by Lt. Wood during one year at
Hyderabad was only 2·55 inches, whilst at Larkhana, further north,
a shower of rain which fell after the arrival of Burnes’s party was
universally ascribed to the good fortune of the Firingis, as for three
years, the natives said, rain had scarcely been known.” (_Reports and
Papers on Sindh_, etc.—Calcutta, 1839, p. 61.)
[74] “_Risis autem comeditur atque sagina in aquâ tantummodo cocta._”
[75] He is wrong about the non-existence of horses and camels in what he
calls India the Less.
[76] Five persons to _eat_, that is. But an English gentleman, who is a
coffee planter in the middle of Java, told me that he once cut a jack
(the fruit intended by the bishop), which it took _three_ men to _carry_.
That they grow in Ceylon to 50 lbs. weight at least is testified by
Cordiner and Sir Emerson Tennent. The former says they grow there to two
feet in length, and to the same circumference, which is bigger than I
ever saw them in Bengal. The manner of growing is accurately described in
the next paragraph of the text.
The jack is, no doubt, the Indian fruit described by Pliny, Book xii. ch.
12, as putting forth its fruit from the bark, and as being remarkable for
the sweetness of its juice, a single one containing enough to satisfy
four persons. The name of the tree, he says, is _pala_, and of the fruit
_Ariena_. The former is possibly the Tamul name, _Pila_, which is also
one of the Malabar names. If, however, Pliny derived the whole of his
information on this fruit, as he appears to derive part of it, from
the historians of the Alexandrian invasion, the name may be merely the
Sanskrit _phala_, a fruit, and it would be a comical illustration of the
persistency of Indian habits of mind. For a stranger in India asking the
question, “What is that?” would almost certainly at this day receive for
reply, “_P’hal hai, khudáwand!_” “It is a _fruit_, my lord!”
The name _jack_, which we give to the tree and its fruits, is one of
that large class of words which are neither English nor Hindustani, but
_Anglo-Indian_, and the origin of which is often very difficult to trace.
Drury gives _Pilavoo_ as the Malayalim name, but I find that Rheede
(_Hortus Malabaricus_, vol. iii.) gives also _Tsjaka_; and Linschoten,
too, says that the jack is in Malabar called Iaca: so here we have
doubtless the original.
I was long puzzled by the two species of our author, _Chaqui_ and
_Bloqui_. There are, indeed, two well-known species of artocarpus giving
fruits which are both edible, and have a strong external resemblance,
the jack and the breadfruit. But the breadfruit is _not_ as big, _not_
as sweet, and does _not_ bear its fruit from the trunk and roots, but
from twigs. Nor is it grown in Malabar, though sometimes, Ainslie says
(_Materia Medica_), imported from Ceylon for sale. No _modern_ authors
that I can find make a clear distinction of kinds of jack. But, on
referring back, we find that all the old authors, who really seem to
have gone into these practical matters with more freshness and sympathy
in native tastes, do so. Thus Linschoten says, “There are two sorts of
them: the best are called _Girasal_, and the common or least esteemed
_Chambasal_, though in fashion and trees there is no difference, save
that the Girasals have a sweeter taste;” and his old commentator, “the
learned Doctor Paludanus, of Enckhuysen,” says, also, there are “two
sorts, and the best is called _Barca_, the other _Papa_, which is not
so good, and yet in handling is soft like the other.” Nearly three
hundred years earlier Ibn Batuta had said, that of the fruits of India
“are those termed _Shaki_ and _Barki_, ... the fruit grows out from the
bottom of the tree, and that which grows nearest to the earth is called
the Barki; it is extremely sweet and well-flavoured in taste; what grows
above this is called the Shaki,” etc. Lastly, we have Rheede, speaking
with authority, “Ceterum arboris hujus ultra triginta numerantur species
ratione fructuum distinctæ, _quæ tamen omnes ad duo referentur genera_;
quorum alterius fructus qui carne succulentâ, gratissimi, mellinique
saporis turgent, _varaka_; at alterius, qui carne flaccidâ, molliori
et minus sapidâ referti sunt, _Tsjakapa_ nuncupantur.” (iii. p. 19.)
Drury, indeed, says, “There are several varieties, but what is called the
Honeyjack is by far the sweetest and best.”
To conclude this long discourse on a short text, it seems certain that
the _Bloqui_ of our author is the _Barki_ of Ibn Batuta, the _Barka_ of
Paludanus, the _Varaka_ “mellini saporis” of Rheede, and the Honeyjack
of Drury. “He that desireth to see more hereof let him reade _Lodouicus
Romanus_, in his fifth Booke and fifteene Chapter of his Nauigatiouns,
and _Christopherus a Costa_ in his Cap. of _Iaca_, and _Gracia ab Horto_,
in the second Booke and fourth Chapter,” saith the learned Paludanus,—and
so say I, by all means!
[77] _Amba_ (Pers.), the Mango. Ibn Batuta writes it _’anbâ_ with an
_’ain_, as appears from Lee’s note (p. 104), and the latter translates
it “grape,” which is the meaning of that word I believe in _Arabic_. Our
author’s just description of the flavour of the mango is applicable,
however, only to the finer stocks, and seems to show that the “Bombay
mango” already existed in the thirteenth century. The mango is commonly
believed in Anglo-India to produce boils, which I see was also the belief
in Linschoten’s day. But I agree with his commentator, that, at the time
when the fruit is ripe, “by reason of the great heate and season of the
yeare—many doe fall into the forenamed diseases, although they eate none
of this fruite.”
[78] This would seem to imply that the orange was not known in Southern
Europe in the author’s time; though there are such things as sweet lemons.
[79] The Persian name for the coco-nut, and coco-palm.
[80] So Ibn Batuta—“Of this sort of trees the palm will produce fruit
twelve times in the year, each month supplying a fresh crop: so that you
will see upon the trees the fruit of some large, of others small, of
others dry, and of others green. And this is the case always.” (See p.
176.)
The account of the coco-palm, though slightly mythicized, is
substantially correct. In the third year of the palm’s growth the fronds
begin to fall, a new frond appearing at the end of every month. Of these
there are twenty-eight, more or less, on a full-grown tree. On a single
tree there are about twelve branches, or spadices, of nuts. Most of the
young fruit falls off, only a few coming to perfection; but as from ten
to fifteen nuts _on an average_ are produced on one branch, a single
tree may produce eighty to one hundred nuts every year. (_Drury’s Useful
Plants of India._)
[81] This is the _jaggeri_, or palm-sugar, used extensively in southern
India. It is made by boiling down the fresh toddy over a slow fire.
The description of the extraction of the toddy, etc., is substantially
correct.
[82] “_Omni tempore mundi, et hoc sicut venit._”
[83] “The leaves are employed for thatching houses, especially in
Malabar.” (_Drury_, p. 152.)
[84] The well known _coir_. The native practice is to steep the husk
in salt water for eighteen months or two years before beating out the
_coir_; but this has been proved to be injurious. The virtues of _coir_
are strength, lightness, elasticity, durability, power of standing
sea-water. It is now largely used in England for brushes, mats, carpets,
etc. (_Drury._)
[85] Persian _Tár_. _Tádí_ is the Teloogoo name, according to
Drury; in Hindustani, _tár_ and _tál_. It is the palmyra (_Borassus
flabelliformis_), a tree found from Malabar along the coast to Bengal,
and thence down the transgangetic coast through Burma and the great
islands, and also up the Ganges to Cawnpore, a little above which it
ceases. The fruit is of no value. The wood is much used for rafters,
etc., and it is better than that of any other Indian palm; but the tree
is chiefly used for the derivation of the liquor to which, as taken from
this and other palms, we give the slightly corrupted name of _toddy_, a
name which in Scotland has received a new application. It is the tree
from which palm-sugar is most generally made. The leaves are used for
making fans (the typical fan being evidently a copy of this leaf), for
writing on, and in some places for thatching, etc.
[86] _Belluri_ I conceive to be the _Caryota urens_, which, according
to Rheede (_Hortus Malabar._, i.), is called by the Brahmans in Malabar
_birala_. Most of our author’s names seem to be Persian in form; but
there is probably no Persian name for this palm. Richardson, however, has
“_barhal_, name of a tree and its fruit.” This tree yields more toddy
than any other palm, as much as a hundred pints in twenty-four hours.
Much sugar is made from it, especially in Ceylon. It also affords a
sago, and a fibre for fishing lines, known in England as “Indian gut.” A
woolly stuff found at the springing of the fronds, is said by Drury to
be used for caulking. I may add that it makes an excellent _amadou_ for
smokers; but the specific name does not come from this fact, as I have
heard suggested, but from the burning acridity of the fruit when applied
to the tongue. The _caryota_, with its enormous jagged fronds, and huge
pendulous bunches of little bead-like berries, is a very beautiful
object. The fruit is actually used for beads by the Mahomedans. Buchanan
(_Mysore_, etc., ii, 454) says its leaves are the favourite food of the
elephant, and that its sugar is superior to that of the palmyra, but
inferior to that of the cocoa nut.
[87] The banyan:
“Such as at this day, to Indians known
In Malabar or Decan, spreads her arms
Branching so broad and long, that in the ground
The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
About the mother-tree, a pillared shade
High over-arched, and echoing walks between:
There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,
Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds
At loopholes cut through thicket shade.”
(_Paradise Lost_, b. ix.)
Which noble lines are almost an exact versification of Pliny’s
description (xii, 11). Drury quotes Roxburgh as mentioning banyans, the
vertical shadow of which had a circumference of five hundred yards. Just
about half this size is the largest I have seen, near Hushyárpúr in the
Northern Punjab. It is remarkable in some of the largest of these trees,
that you cannot tell which has been the original and “mother-tree,”
that having probably decayed and disappeared. The age of these trees
is sometimes by no means so great as first impressions suggest. There
is a very fine one in the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, (its exact size
I do not remember, but the shade is not less than a hundred and eighty
to two hundred feet across), whereof the garden tradition runs, that it
originated in Roxburgh’s time, _i.e._, eighty or ninety years ago. It
has, however, been carefully tended and _ex_tended, the vertical fibres
being protected by bamboo tubes when young. It is said to have grown
originally in the crown of a date tree, as often happens.
[88] True in a general way, but with exceptions, specific and local.
[89] _Siya-gosh_ (black-ear), the Persian name of the lynx. I have not
been able to hear of a _white_ lynx. The lynx of the Dekkan, which is
probably meant (_felis caracal_), has only the under part white, the back
being a pale reddish brown. Its tenacity is a noted feature.
[90] “_Quod vocatur rinocerunta_”! The rhinoceros is not now, I believe,
found in any part of India south (or west) of the Ganges; but it has
become extinct in my own time in the forests of Rajmahl, on the right
bank of that river; and very possibly extended at one time much further
west, though our author’s statement is too vague to build upon, and
scarcely indicates personal knowledge of the animal.
[91] Two-headed and even three-headed serpents might be suggested by
the portentous appearance of a cobra with dilated hood and spectacles,
especially if the spectator were (as probably would be the case) in a
great fright. But for _five_ heads I can make no apology.
[92] This has puzzled me sorely, and I sought it vainly among Tamul and
Malayalim synonyms. At the last moment the light breaks in upon me. It
is, Fr., _cocatrix_; Ital., _calcatrice_; Anglicè, a _cockatrice_!
[93] Polo says: “Here and throughout all India the birds and beasts are
different from ours, except one bird, which is the quail.” (iii, 20.)
[94] A literally accurate description of the great Indian bat, or flying
fox. They generally cluster on some great banyan tree. These, I presume,
are what Marco Polo quaintly calls “bald owls which fly in the night:
they have neither wings (?) nor feathers, and are as large as an eagle.”
(iii, 20.) There is a good account of the flying fox, and an excellent
cut, in Tennent’s _Nat. History of Ceylon_. On the Indiarubber trees at
the Botanic Gardens near Kandy, they “hang in such prodigious numbers
that frequently large branches give way beneath their accumulated
weight.” (p. 16.) Shall I be thought to be rivalling my author in the
recital of marvels, if I say that in 1845 I saw, near Delhi, large
branches which had been broken off by the accumulated weight—of _locusts_
a few days before? So all the peasantry testified.
[95] Probably some kind of jungle-fowl, such as _Gallus Sonneratii_.
Pheasants are not found in southern India.
[96] _Spatham_, a straight sword (?); but a contemptuous expression is
evidently intended. Polo says: “The people go to battle with lance and
shield, entirely naked; yet are they not valiant and courageous, but mean
and cowardly.”
[97] Is not this short and accurate statement the first account of the
Parsis in India, and of their strange disposal of the dead?
[98] The _Domra_ or _Dóm_, one of the lowest Indian castes, and supposed
to represent one of the aboriginal races. They are to this day, in Upper
India, the persons generally employed to remove carcases, and to do the
like jobs; sometimes also as hangmen. In the Dekkan they seem, according
to Dubois (p. 468), who calls them _Dumbars_, to be often tumblers,
conjurors, and the like.
[99] Ginger is cultivated in all parts of India. That of Malabar is best.
(_Drury._)
[100] _Carrobiæ_,—referring, I presume, to the carob of the Mediterranean
(_Ceratonia siliqua_). I do not know what he means unless it be
tamarinds, which are leguminous pods with some analogy to the carobs
of the Mediterranean. The _trees_ may often be called stupendous; but
this seems scarcely to be his meaning. The European name is Arabic,
_támar-ul-Hind_ (date of India), as Linschoten long ago pointed out.
[101] _Cassia fistula_ of Linnæus, if that be what is meant, is found
in the Travancore forests, and probably all over India. Its beautiful,
pendulous racemes of yellow flowers, shewing something like a Brobdignag
laburnum, make it a favourite in the gardens of Upper India. It affords a
laxative medicine, and is given by Milburn among the exports of western
India. The long, cylindrical pods, sometimes two feet long, probably give
the specific name. It is possible, however, that the bishop did not mean
_C. fistula_, but _cassia lignea_, an inferior cinnamon, which grows in
Malabar forests, and was at one time largely exported from Calicut and
the other ports. Barbosa mentions it as _canella selvatica_. Linschoten
says that it was worth only about one-fifth of the Ceylon cinnamon. It is
perhaps the cassia of Pliny. It is remarkable however that he says the
choice cassia was called by the barbarians by the name of _lada_; and
_lada_ is the generic name which the Malays give to all the species of
pepper, the word signifying _pungent_. (See _Drury_; _Crawfurd’s Malay
Dict._; and _Bohn’s Pliny_, xii, 43.)
[102] This is a remarkable testimony to the character of the Hindus
when yet uninjured by foreign domination or much foreign intercourse.
M. Polo says the Abraiamain (Brahmans) “are the best and most honest of
all merchants, and would not on any account tell a lie” (p. 304). Rabbi
Benjamin says also, “This nation is very trustworthy in matters of trade,
and whenever foreign merchants enter their port, three secretaries of the
king immediately repair on board their vessels, write down their names,
and report them to him. The king thereupon grants them security for their
property, which they may even leave in the open fields without any guard”
(_Asher’s Itinerary_ of R. Benj. of Tud., p. 138 _et seq._). There are
many other passages, both in ancient and mediæval writers, giving an
extravagantly high character for integrity and veracity to the Hindus, a
character not very often deserved by them, and never ascribed to them,
now-a-days. See some remarks on this subject in _Elphinstone’s History_,
book iii. ch. xi.
It is curious, however, that, with reference to the very district of
Travancore, which now includes Quilon, where the bishop’s experience must
have chiefly lain, two English Residents have borne testimony lamentably
opposed to his account of the character of the people in former times.
One of these declares that “he never knew a people so destitute of truth
and honesty, or so abandoned to vice and corruption”; the other asserts
that “in no part of the world are men to be found to whose habits and
affections the practice of vice is so familiar” (_Hamilton’s Desc.
Hindost._, ii. 315).
[103] Says Marco, “The heat of the sun can scarcely be endured; if you
put an egg into any river, it will be boiled before you have gone any
great distance.” (iii. 25.)
[104] The reason of the reference to Multán is obscure. The allusion
would seem to be to the conquest of the Carnatic and Malabar by the
generals of the Khilji sovereigns of Delhi, Alá-ud-din and Mubárik (A.D.
1310-1319). The Khiljis were Turks by descent. Mooltan was at this time
subject to Delhi (_Elphinstone’s History_, pp. 343, 348, and _Briggs’s
Ferishta_). But, perhaps, the “not long since” has a wider import, and
refers to the conquests and iconoclasms of the great Mahmúd of Ghazni,
300 years before. Indeed, he is here speaking of the Lesser India, _i.e._
of Sindh, Gujerat, and the Konkan, the scene of some of Mahmúd’s most
memorable expeditions. Mahmúd coming from Ghazni would come _through_
Multán, and indeed he took that city several times.
[105] Perhaps a reference to the notions of Mahomedans about the latter
days. But I think I have read of indications of this belief among Hindus,
though I cannot quote them. This one is remarkable at so early a date.
[106] I need scarcely say that by Saracens he means Mahomedans, just as
these were called _Moors_ by our people in India in the last century,
and by some classes of Europeans perhaps to our own day. So also the
Prayer-book, in the collect for Good Friday, speaks of “Jews, TURKS,
infidels, and heretics.”
[107] “_Planeta._”
[108] Somewhat obscure. “_Isti faciunt idola ferè ad similitudinem omnium
rerum idolotrarum animantium; habent desuper deum suum, ad similitudinem
suam._”
[109] Apart from the Brahminical theosophies, the expressions of Hindus
generally, when _religious_ (not superstitious) feeling or expression is
drawn out, by sorrow or the like, are often purely Theistic. _Parmeswar_
or _Bhagwán_ in such cases is evidently meant to express the One
Almighty, and no fabled divinity. But the old geographer in Ramusio makes
the singular assertion that “all the country of Malabar believes in the
Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and this beginning at Cambay and
ending at Bengal”. Conti says the same at Ava, but _he_ was doubtless
misled by the Buddhist triad, _Buddha_, _Dharma_, _Sangha_—the Divine
person, the Law, and the Congregation.
[110] This does not agree in any way with any version of the Hindu
mythical chronology that I know of.
[111] It would go hard with a man yet in a Hindu state who should kill an
ox. It was capital under the Sikhs.
[112] “Whoever is most deeply tinted is honoured in proportion” (_M.
Polo_, p. 304). So, among the flat-nosed Mongols, Rubruquis says, “_et
quæ minus habet de naso, illa pulchrior reputatur!_”
[113] Than the bishop’s description thus far I doubt if a better is
to be found till long after his time. The numbers of men represented
to be carried on the _hauda_ seem not very credible to us and must be
exaggerated, but all ancient accounts do speak of much larger numbers
than we now-a-days are accustomed to put upon elephants under any
circumstances.
[114] “A very pious animal,” as a German friend in India said to me,
misled by the double sense of his vernacular _fromm_.
[115] _Brazil._ This is the sappan-wood, affording a red dye, from a
species of _cæsalpina_ found in nearly all tropical Asia, from Malabar
eastward. The name of brazil wood is now appropriated to that (derived
from another species of caesalpina) which comes from Brazil, and which,
according to Macculloch, gives twice as much dye from the same weight of
wood. The history of the names here is worthy of note. First, _brazil_ is
the name of the Indian wood in commerce. Then the great country is called
_Brazil_, because a somewhat similar wood is found abundantly there. And
now the Indian wood is robbed of its name, which is appropriated to that
found in a country of the New World, and is supposed popularly to be
derived from the name of that country. I do not know the origin of the
word _brazil_. Sappan is from the Malay name (_sapang_).
[116] “_Lambruscæ._”
[117] The black pepper vine is indigenous in the forests of Malabar and
Travancore (the districts which the Bishop has in his eye); and the
Malabar pepper is acknowledged to be the best that is produced. The
vines are planted at the base of trees with rough bark, the mango and
others, and will climb twenty or thirty feet if allowed. After being
gathered, the berries are dried on mats in the sun, turning from red to
black. Pepper was for ages _the_ staple article of export to Europe from
India, and it was with it that Vasco de Gama loaded his ships on his
first voyage. A very interesting article on pepper will be found in that
treasury of knowledge, Crawfurd’s _Dictionary of the Archipelago_.
The Bishop’s mention of “long pepper” shews confusion, probably in his
amanuensis or copyist; for long pepper is the produce of a different
genus (_Chavica_), which is _not_ a vine, but a shrub, whose stems are
annual. The chemical composition and properties are nearly the same as
those of black pepper. Crawfurd draws attention to the fact that, by
Pliny’s account, _piper longum_ bore between three and four times the
price of black pepper in the Roman market. (_Drury_ in voc.—_Crawfurd’s
Dict._) Though long pepper is now cultivated in Malabar, it was not so,
or at least not _exported_, in the sixteenth century. Linschoten says
expressly that the “long pepper groweth onely in Bengala and Java.”
(p. 111.) Its price at Rome was probably therefore a fancy one, due to
its rarity. It is curious that Pliny supposed pepper to grow in pods,
and that the long pepper was the immature pod picked and prepared for
the market. He corrects a popular error that ginger was the root of
the pepper tree (bk. xii). Ibn Batuta, like our Bishop, contradicts
what “some have said, that they boil it in order to dry it,” as without
foundation. But their predecessor, R. Benjamin, says—“the pepper is
originally white, but when they collect it, they put it in basins and
pour hot water upon it; it is then exposed to the heat of the sun,” etc.
[118] The cinnamon must have been the wild cinnamon or cassia. There
is an article in Indian commerce called “cassia buds,” bearing some
resemblance to cloves, and having the flavour of cinnamon. It is said by
some to be the unexpanded flower of the Laurus cassia, but, strange to
say, this seems still undetermined. (See _Penny Cyc._)
[119] Polo says the islands of India are estimated at 12,700 inhabited
and uninhabited (iii, 37), and those of the China Sea at 7,448 (iii, 5).
The Lakkadives are supposed to derive their name from Laksha or Lakh =
100,000.
[120] Ceylon, called by Polo Seilan, and the same by Ibn Batuta.
[121] The gorgeous lories of the Archipelago must have been imported to
Quilon, and have been here in the Bishop’s remembrance.
[122] No doubt the large flying squirrel, which is found in Malabar and
Ceylon as well as in Eastern India.
[123] The bandicoot; _Mus Malabaricus_, or _Mus giganticus_. The name
is said by Sir E. Tennent (_Nat. Hist. of Ceylon_, p. 44) to be from
the Teloogoo _Pandi-koku_, “Pig-rat.” “This rat is found in many places
on the coast of Coromandel, in Mysore, and in several parts of Bengal
between Calcutta and Hurdwar. It is a most mischievous animal, burrows
to a great depth, and will pass under the foundations of granaries and
store-houses if not carefully laid.” (_General Hardwicke_ in _Linnæan
Trans._, vii., quoted in _Pen. Cyc._, article _Muridæ_.) The animal
figured by Hardwicke was a female; its total length was 26¼ inches, of
which the tail was 13 inches; and the weight was 2 pounds 11½ ounces.
This is not quite so big as a fox, though the foxes in India _are_
very small. As an exaggeration, it is far from a parallel to that of
Herodotus, who speaks (bk. iii.) of _ants_ in India as big as foxes.
A story which reminds one of the question of a young Scotch lady just
arrived in the Hoogly, when she saw an elephant for the first time, “Wull
yon be what’s called a _musqueetae_?”
[124] The Talipat (_Corypha umbraculifera_), or great fan-palm, abundant
in Ceylon, and found in the southern part of the peninsula, in Burma, and
in the Malay islands, but scarcely known in Bengal. The leaves, according
to Sir J. E. Tennent, have sometimes an area of two hundred square feet.
[125] “The King [of Ceylon] has the most beautiful ruby that ever was
or can be in the whole world. It is the most splendid object on earth,
and seems to glow like fire; it is of such value as money could scarcely
purchase.” (_Polo_, iii. 17).
“I also saw in the possession of the King [of Ceylon] a saucer made of
ruby, as large as the palm of the hand, in which he kept oil of aloes. I
was much surprised at it, when the king said to me, ‘We have much larger
than this.’” (_Ibn Batuta_, p. 187).
[126] “_De pannis quos emunt faciunt ad modum cortinarum parietes._”
[127] “_Jana_,” by mistranscription doubtless.
[128] His Java vaguely represents the Archipelago generally, with some
special reference to Sumatra.
[129] Polo, in one chapter on Sumatra, tells how stuffed pygmies were
manufactured for the western markets by shaving monkeys, “for neither
in India, nor in any other country however savage, are there men so
small as these pretended ones.” Yet, in another chapter, his incredulity
gives way, and he tells of hairy men with tails, who remain in the
mountains, never visiting the towns. No doubt the orang-utang, which
exists in Sumatra, is at the bottom of these pygmy stories. The pygmies
and cannibals together identify Sumatra as the scene of one of Sindbad’s
adventures; not the Andamans, as a reviewer in the _Athenæum_ lately said.
[130] This seems to be a jumble of the myths about the spice-groves and
the upas tree.
[131] The cubeb (_Piper cubeba_ and _P. caricum_) is the only one of the
spices named which grows in Java proper. In those days it was probably
exported as a condiment chiefly. This statement that pepper was not
produced in the islands confirms the inference of the sagacious Crawfurd,
that it is exotic in Sumatra. (See his _Dict. of the Archip._, article
_Pepper_.)
[132] In Sumatra, we read, “Man’s flesh, if it be fat, is eaten as
ordinarily there as beefe in our country. Marchants comming vnto this
region for traffique do vsually bring to them fat men, selling them vnto
the inhabitants as we sel hogs, who immediately kil and eate them.”
(_Odoricus_, in Hakluyt, vol. ii.)
“In one part of the island, called _Batech_, the inhabitants eat human
flesh,” etc. (_Conti_ in _India in the Fifteenth Century_, p. 9.) The
cannibalism of certain tribes in Sumatra is noticed with more or less
exaggeration by several other old travellers, and has been confirmed
in the present century. The tribe is that of the Battas or Battaks, as
correctly named by Conti, a race presenting the singular anomaly of
Anthropophagi with a literature. Some have supposed that they may be the
cannibal _Paddaei_ of Herodotus (iii. 99). It is not impossible, for the
more we learn the further goes back the history of Eastern navigation.
[133] “Now, in all this province of Maabar, there is not a tailor, for
the people go naked at every season. The air is always so temperate, that
they wear only a piece of cloth round the middle. The king is dressed
just like the others, except that his cloth is finer, and he wears a
necklace full set with rubies, etc. He wears also round three parts
both of his arms and legs, bracelets of gold, full of goodly stones and
pearls.” (_Polo_, iii. 20.)
[134] For the continued existence of this remarkable custom of
inheritance among the Nairs of Malabar, and for a description of
the singular relations of the sexes out of which it springs, see a
statement in Mr. Markham’s late _Travels in Peru and India_, p. 345. I
am collecting, for another paper, the various examples of this law of
inheritance in detail, and will only here mention that it exists, or
has existed, also in Canara, (but there derived from the Nairs); among
the aborigines of Hispaniola, and tribes of New Granada and Bogota;
among negro tribes of the Niger; among certain sections of the Malays
of Sumatra; in the royal family of Tipura, and among the Kasias of the
Sylhet mountains (both east of Bengal); in a district of Ceylon adjoining
Bintenne; in Madagascar; in the Fiji islands; and among the Hurons and
Natchez of North America.