Chapter XIX.

A LARGE DESCRIPTION OF THE LAST-MENTIONED PROVINCE, AND OF MANY OTHERS, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE OBSERVATIONS MADE BY THE AUTHOR IN HIS PROGRESS THROUGH THEM.

These twenty days’ journey ended, having passed over the province of Thibet, we met with cities and many villages, in which, through the blindness of idolatry, a wicked custom is used; for no man there marrieth a wife that is a virgin; whereupon, when travellers and strangers, coming from other places, pass through this country and pitch their pavilions, the women of that place having marriageable daughters bring them unto strangers, desiring them to take them as wives as long as they remain there. Thus the handsomest are chosen, and the rest return home sorrowful, and when they depart they are not suffered to carry any away with them, but faithfully restore them to their parents. The maiden also requireth some toy or small present of him who hath taken her, which she may show, as an argument and proof of her condition; and she that hath many such favours and toys to show to her wooers is accounted more noble, and may on that account be advantageously married, and when she would appear most honourably dressed, she hangs all her lovers’ favours about her neck, and the more acceptable she was to many, so much the more honour she receives from her countrymen. But when they are once married they are no more suffered to converse with strange men, and the men of this country are very cautious never to offend one another in this matter. They are idolaters, and cruel, thinking it no sin if they rob and exercise theft. They live by hunting and the fruits of the earth: many beasts also are found with them, yielding musk, called in this country Gadderi. They have a language of their own, and have no money, not so much as the paper money of the Khan, but use corals for money, and are clothed with the skins of beasts, or coarse hemp. This country belongs to the province of Thibet, for Thibet is a very large province, and has been sometimes divided into eight kingdoms having many cities and towns, with mountains, lakes, and rivers, where gold is found. The women wear coral about their necks, and hang it about the necks of their idols as a precious thing. In this country there are very large dogs, as big as asses, which take wild beasts, especially wild oxen, called Boyamini.

There are in this province many sorts of spices, which are never brought into these parts. This Thibet is (as all the former provinces) subject to the Khan. On the west of the province of Thibet bordereth the province of Caindu, which was formerly governed by her own king, now by the governors of the Khan. By the west, you must not understand that the countries are in the west; but that we, departing from those parts which are betwixt the east and north-east, came hither westward, and therefore reckon them westward. The people are idolaters, have many cities, the chief called by the name of the province, Caindu, built on the frontiers of the province. There is a large salt lake, in which are abundance of pearls, white, but not round, so many, that in point of price they would become little worth if they were suffered to be carried away at men’s pleasure. It is therefore provided, upon pain of death, that none should presume to fish for pearl in this lake without the licence of the Great Khan. There is also a mountain, in which is found a mine of turquoise stones, the digging of which is restrained by the like licence. Many Gadderi are also in this province, which yield musk. That lake also which breeds pearl in such plenty abounds with fish, and the whole country is full of wild beasts, that is to say, of lions, bears, stags, deer, ounces, roebucks, and divers kinds of birds. Cloves are found there in great plenty, which are gathered from small trees, which have boughs and leaves like the bay-tree, but somewhat longer and straighter, white flowers, and brittle, as are the cloves, and when they are ripe they are black and dusky. Ginger, cinnamon, and several other spices, grow there in great plenty, which are not brought into our countries. Wine, however, though plentiful with us, groweth not in it, but instead thereof they make a most excellent drink of corn, rice, and divers spices.

The inhabitants of this country worship idols, to which they are so besotted, that they think they deserve their favours if they prostitute their wives, sisters, and daughters, to be abused by travellers; for, when any stranger cometh amongst them, every master of a house seeketh to give him entertainment, and leaving the females and house to the strangers, will not return until they depart, which he doth for the glory of his idols, hoping they will be more gracious to him. Certain sprigs of gold are their money, using weights, and according to the weight of the sprig is the value of the money, and this money is their larger sort of money without stamp. They have also a lesser, which they make after this manner. They boil salt in a cauldron for about an hour, and of this, being congealed, they make little lumps like twopenny loaves, which, being solid, is signed with the prince’s stamp, and they make vast profit thereof in places remote from cities which have store of musk and gold, and want chapmen. These barter their gold for salt, to use with their meats.

Leaving this province, they proceed fifteen days’ journey further, and in that space meet with castles, and many villages whose inhabitants have the same customs that the province of Caindu hath, and at length they come unto a river called Brius, by which the province of Caindu is bounded. In this river gold is found in great plenty, which they call Di Paiola, washed in vessels to cleanse it from the sand and earth. On the banks thereof cinnamon grows in great abundance. This river falls directly into the ocean. Having passed over the river Brius, they come westward to the province Caraian, which contains seven kingdoms. It is subject to the Great Khan, whose son, named Sentemur, is made vice-king of that kingdom, and is a young prince, rich, wise, and just.

The inhabitants thereof are idolaters; you ride five days’ journey through it, and find it all well peopled: they live on their beasts and fruits. The country breeds excellent horses, and it hath a peculiar and difficult language. Having finished these five days’ journey, you come to the chief city called Jaci, which is both great and famous, hath in it many merchants and artificers, and many sorts of people, idolaters, Christians, Nestorians, and Saracens, but the greatest part of the inhabitants are idolaters. It hath corn and rice, notwithstanding which they eat no bread of corn, because it is not wholesome, but they make bread of rice; they make drink also of it, and several spices, which is very pleasant; they use white porcelain instead of money, and for ornaments, shells which are found at sea. Much salt is made in this city of the water of salt-wells, from whence the vice-king hath great profit. The men of this country care not if any man come to their wives, so they give their consent. There is also a lake there very full of fish, containing a hundred miles in compass. These men eat raw flesh of hens, beef, mutton, and buffaloes, but prepared after this manner: they first cut it into small pieces, and after season it with excellent spices; but the poorer sort shred it, and lay it in garlic sauce, and eat it as we do boiled meat. Departing from the city of Jaci, having travelled ten days’ journey westward, we came to the province called, as the chief city, Carazan, which Cogatin, son of Cublai, governeth. The rivers there yield great quantities of washed gold, and also that which is solid, and on the mountains they find gold in the vein, and they give one pound of gold for six of silver. They spend porcelain for money brought thither from India.

The inhabitants are idolaters; very great serpents are bred in this country, some of which are ten paces in length, and in thickness ten spans. They have two little feet before near the head, with three talons or claws like lions, and the eyes bigger than a loaf, shining very bright. They have their mouths and jaws so very wide, that they are able to swallow a man, great and sharp teeth; nor is there any man, or other living creature, which can behold these serpents without terror. There are also some less, of eight, or six, some of five paces long, which are taken after this manner. In the daytime they use to lie hid, by reason of the heat, in holes, out of which they go by night to seek their prey, and devour whatsoever they get, lions, wolves, as well as other beasts, and then go to seek water, leaving such a track through their weight in the sands, as if a piece of timber had been drawn there: thereupon the hunters fasten under the sands great iron spikes, in their usual tracks, whereby they are wounded and slain. The crows presently proclaim the serpent’s fate, and by their cries invite the hunters, who come and flay him, taking out his gall, which is used for divers medicines, amongst other things, for the biting of mad dogs, a pennyweight given in wine; and for women in travail, for carbuncles, and other distempers, and they sell the flesh dear, as being exceeding delicate.

There are stout horses bred in this province, which by their merchants are carried into India. They commonly take one bone out of the tail, lest he should bend his tail hither and thither, and esteem it more comely, that it hang downright. They use long stirrups as the French, which the Tartars and other nations, for their shooting, use short, because when they shoot they rise up. They use targets and armour in the wars, made of the hides of buffaloes; they have lancets and cross-bows, and poison all their arrows. Some of them, who are villains, are said to carry poison about them continually, that if they be taken they may suddenly swallow it, and so dying at once prevent torture; for which cause the great lords have dog’s dung ready, which they force them to swallow, and that makes them vomit the poison. Before the Great Khan subjected them, they used, when any stranger which seemed of good presence and parts lodged with them, to kill him by night, supposing that those good parts of that man would abide afterwards in that house; and this silly notion has proved the death of many.

Travelling forwards from the province of Carazan, after five days’ journey westward, is the province of Cardandan, which also is subject to the Great Khan: the chief city thereof is called Vociam, the inhabitants whereof use porcelain, and weighed pieces of gold instead of money; for in that country, and many others lying round about, silver mines are not found, and they give an ounce of gold for five ounces of silver, and according to this exchange great gain is made. The men and women in that country cover their teeth with thin plates of gold, which they so fit to themselves, that the teeth themselves seem, as they were, set in those plates. The men about their arms and legs make lists, pricking the places with needles, and putting therein a black indelible tincture; and these lists or marks are esteemed with them as a mark of great gallantry. They give their minds to nothing but riding, hunting, hawking, and the exercise of arms, leaving the household cares to the women, who are assisted therein by slaves, which they buy, or take in war. When a woman is once delivered, she forsakes the bed, washes the child, and dresses it, and then the husband lieth down, and keeps the child with him forty days, not suffering it to depart; is visited all that time by friends and neighbours, to cheer and comfort him. The woman looks to the house, and carries the husband his broths to the bed, and gives suck to the child by him. Their wine is made of rice and spice; their ordinary food is rice, and raw flesh, dressed as before mentioned. In this province there are no other idols, save that every family adoreth the oldest man in the house, of whom they say, come themselves and all they have; they dwell for the most part in wild and mountainous places, but foreigners come not to those mountains, because the air would kill them, being in summer very corrupt.

They have no letters, but make their contracts and obligations by tallies of wood, one half whereof one keepeth, and the other the other, which being afterwards paid, the tally is destroyed. There are no physicians in this province, nor in Caindu, Vociam, and Caraian; but when any is sick, they call the magicians or idol priests together, and the sick person declares his disease unto them; then the magicians dance, and sound certain instruments, and bellow forth songs in honour of their gods, till at length the devil entereth into one of them, skipping and playing in the dance. Then leaving the dance, they consult with him that is possessed, for what cause this disease happened unto him, and what is to be done for his recovery. The devil answereth by him, because he hath done this or that, or because he hath offended this or that god, therefore he fell into this disease. Then the magicians intreat that god to pardon him this offence, promising that if the sick person recovers, he shall offer a sacrifice of his own blood; but if the devil, or the priest, think the patient to be sick of such a disease that he cannot be freed from the same, he useth to answer: this man hath so grievously offended that god that he cannot by any sacrifices be appeased; but if he think he shall recover, he commandeth to offer so many rams, having black heads, and to prepare so many magicians with their wives, by them to offer sacrifices, and that god may then be appeased towards him; which being heard, his kinsmen quickly cause those things to be done which the devil commanded. They kill rams, and sprinkle their blood in the air, and the magicians assembled light great candles, and perfume the whole house with incense, making great smoke of lignum aloes, and sprinkle the broth of the flesh in the air, with the potion made of spices; all which being duly performed, they skip about again, and dance in honour of that idol, which is supposed to have been favourable to the sick, singing and making a horrible noise with their voices. These things being performed, they ask the possessed again whether the idol be pleased? And if he answer no, they presently prepare themselves to fulfil any other command of his; but if he answer that he is satisfied, they sit down at the table, and eat the flesh offered to the idol with great joy, and drink the liquors; and dinner being ended, and the magicians paid, every one returns to his own home; and when the sick hath thus escaped the disease, through the providence of God, and hath been restored to health, they attribute it to the idol, to whom they sacrificed; but if he die, then they say the idol was defrauded, and that some of the sacrificers tasted thereof first: this is not done to all, but by the richer, the devil, or his priests in his name, imposing on their blindness.

The Great Khan, A.D. 1272, sent an army into the kingdom of Vociam and Gurazan to reduce it, his forces being to the number of twelve thousand veteran troops, under the conduct of a Nestorian, an experienced officer. As soon as the King of Mein and King of Bengala heard of their coming, assembling their forces, they joined horse and foot together about three score thousand, and about a thousand elephants bearing castles, and in every castle twelve or sixteen armed men were placed; with this army the King of Mein marched speedily towards the city of Vociam, where the army of the Tartars lay encamped. Nestardin, however, marched forth with invincible courage to fight the enemy, and drawing near them, encamped near a certain great wood, knowing that the elephants with their towers on their backs were not able to enter the wood. Then the King of Mein seeing this, resolved to meet them; but the Tartarian horse, perceiving the elephants which were placed in the front of the battle, were terrified, so that they could not by any means be brought to charge the elephants; the Tartars therefore were compelled to alight from their horses, and tying them to the trees, they came to fight on foot against those beasts, and very wisely shot a multitude of arrows against the elephants, which, not able to endure the wounds received by the arrows, betook themselves to flight, and went all to the next wood, broke their castles, and overthrew the armed men sitting in them: which the Tartars seeing run to their horses, and getting upon them, furiously fell upon the king’s army with great violence, and many of either army fell. At length the King of Mein being put to flight, left the victory to the Tartars, who hastened to the wood, and taking many captives, used their help to seize two hundred of these elephants, and ever since the Great Khan hath used elephants in his army, to which before he was not accustomed: hereupon also he vanquished the countries of the King of Mein and Bengala, and subjected them to his empire.

Departing from the province of Caraim, there is a great desert, which continueth two days and a half, nor is there any habitation there, but a very large plain, in which three days in the week multitudes meet together for trading. Many descend from the great mountains of that country, bringing gold with them to change for silver, that is, giving an ounce of gold for five ounces of silver, and therefore many merchants from foreign nations come thither, who bring silver and carry gold away, and bring thither merchandise to sell to these people; for to those high mountains in which they who gather gold in the country dwell no stranger can come, because the way is intricate and impassable. When you are past that plain, going toward the south, Mein bordereth upon India, and the distance is about fifteen days’ journey through places uninhabited and woody, in which innumerable elephants, unicorns, and other wild beasts wander.

After that fifteen days’ journey you come to Mein, a great and noble city, the head of the kingdom, and subject to the Great Khan. The inhabitants thereof have a peculiar language, and are idolaters. In this city there was a king, who, being ready to die, commanded that near to his sepulchre there should be erected two towers in the form of pyramids, one at the head, the other at the feet, both of marble, of the height of ten fathom. On the top was placed a round ball; he caused one to be covered all over with gold, a finger thick, and the other with silver; and upon the top, round about the balls, many little gold and silver bells were hanged, which, at the blowing of the wind, gave a certain shrill and pleasant sound. The monument or sepulchre was also covered with plates, partly of gold partly of silver. He commanded this to be made in honour of his soul, and that his memory should never die among men. And when the Great Khan undertook to subdue this city, he sent a valiant captain, and the greatest part of his army were cavalry, of which the better part of his troops consists; these winning the city would not demolish that monument without the Khan’s knowledge; who hearing that the deceased had erected it for the honour of his soul, would not suffer it to be injured; for the manner of the Tartars is not to violate the things which belong to the dead. In this province are many elephants, wild oxen, great and fair stags, and deer, and other wild beasts of divers kinds.

The province Bengala bordereth upon India towards the south, which the Great Khan subdued when Marco Polo lived in this country. This country has its own proper king and language, the inhabitants whereof are all idolaters; they have masters which keep schools, and teach idolatries and enchantments, a thing common to all the great men of that country. They eat flesh, rice, and milk; they have cotton in great plenty, and by the manufacture thereof much trade is there carried on. They abound also with spike, galingal, ginger, sugar, and divers other spices; huge oxen, also are there, comparable unto elephants in height, but not in bulk. Many eunuchs are made in this province, which are afterwards sold to merchants. This province continueth thirty days’ journey, in the end whereof, going eastward, is the province of Cangigu, which is a country having also its proper king and peculiar language, the inhabitants whereof worship idols, and are tributary to the Great Khan; their king hath about three hundred wives; much gold is found in this province and many spices, but they cannot easily be transported, because that country is far distant from the sea: there are also many elephants in it, and much game. The inhabitants live on milk, flesh, and rice; they have no wine, but they make very good drink of rice and spices. As well the men as the women used to embroider their faces, necks, hands, bellies, and legs, making the images of lions, dragons, and birds, and so firmly imprint them, that they cannot easily be put out; and the more such images any one has upon his body, so much he is esteemed the finer and the more gallant. And there are also in this country professors of this foolish art of flesh-embroidery, which use no other trade but this needlework and dyeing of fools’ skins.

Amu lies to the east of that province, and is subject to the Great Khan, whose inhabitants worship idols, and have to themselves a peculiar language. They abound with herds of cattle, and have plenty of victuals, and many horses, and these excellent, which merchants carry for sale to India. They have also many buffaloes and oxen, because there are delicate pastures there. As well men as women wear bracelets of gold and silver of great value on their arms, as also the like on their legs; but those of the women are most valuable: from Amu to Cangigu are above five-and-twenty days’ journey. The province of Tholoman is still eight days’ journey farther distant to the east from Amu, subject to the Great Khan, having a peculiar language, and worshipping idols. The men and women in this country are tall, well-shaped, and of a brown complexion. The country is very well inhabited, having many and strong castles and cities. The men are practised in arms, and accustomed to war; they burn the bodies of their dead, and enclosing the relics of their bones in a chest, hide them in the caves of the mountains, that they cannot be touched either by man or beast. Gold is found in great plenty there, and instead of money, they use porcelain brought from India, as also in Cangigu and Amu. From the province of Tholoman the high road leads towards the east by a river, on the bank of which are many cities and castles, and at the end of twelve days you come to the great city Cintiqui. The country is subject to the Great Khan, and the inhabitants therefore addicted to idolatry. Excellent cloths are made in this country of the bark of trees, with which they are clothed in the summer. Many lions are there, so that for fear of them, none dare sleep without doors by night; the vessels which sail up and down the river for fear of these lions are not fastened to the bank. There are great dogs in the same country so hardy and strong, that they fear not to attack the lion; and it often happeneth that two dogs and one archer kill a lion; for the dogs, set on by the man, give the onset, and the lion’s nature is presently to take shelter from some tree, that the dogs may not come behind him, neither will his great heart suffer him to run from the dogs, lest he should seem afraid; but he holds his stately pace, the man meanwhile shooting, and the dogs fastening on his hinder parts, but with such agility, that when the lion turns on them they are gone; and then this magnanimous beast holds on his way again, to seek a tree for succour, till what with bitings and arrows he sometimes comes short, and with the expense of blood, dieth by the way. This country abounds with silk, which by merchants is carried to diverse provinces by the river; they live therefore chiefly by their merchandise: their money is paper, and they are valiant in arms.

At the end of ten days is the city of Sidinfu, and twenty days from thence is Gingui, and four days thence is Palanfu, towards the south, and is in Cathay, returning by the other side of the province. The people are idolaters, and burn their dead; there are also certain Christians which have a church, are all under the Khan, and use paper money. They make cloths of gold and silk and lawns very fine. By this city, which has many cities under it, runs a great river, which carries store of merchandise to Cambalu, made by many channels to pass thither; but we will leave this place, and, proceeding three days’ journey, speak of Ciangu, a great city towards the south, of the province of Cathay, subject to the Khan. The inhabitants are idolaters, and burn their dead. Their money is the (mulberry) paper coin of the Khan. In this city, and the territories that depend upon it, they make large quantities of salt, for the earth abounds therewith, and out of it they get salt after this manner: they heap up the earth in the manner of a hill, and pour water upon it, which draws the saltness of the earth into it, and then runs into certain conduits, and is boiled in pans, till it be congealed to salt, fair and white, to the great gain of the people and of the Great Khan, being carried into other countries to sell. There are large peaches, high flavoured, and weigh two pounds apiece. Five days’ journey beyond the city Ciangu, in Cathay, southward, standeth another city, named Ciangli, in which road are many cities and castles, subject to the Khan, through the midst of which runs a great river, very convenient for shipping laden with merchandise.

Six days’ journey hence to the south is the noble kingdom and great city of Tudinfu, which had formerly its proper king, before it was subdued by the Great Khan, A.D. 1272, and hath eleven royal cities famous for traffic under the jurisdiction thereof. It is very pleasantly seated for gardens and fruits, rich in silks; their Khan sent to be governor thereof one of his barons named Lucanser, with eight thousand horse, who rebelled again this lord, but was reduced and slain by an army of one hundred thousand horse, under two other barons sent against him, and the country reduced to obedience. Seven days off towards the south is the famous city named Singuimatu, to which on the south a great river runs, which being divided by the inhabitants of the place into two rivers, flows one branch to the east towards Cathay, and the other to the west towards Mangi; by these rivers innumerable vessels, and incredible for their size and wealth, bring necessaries to both provinces. If you proceed sixteen days’ journey towards the south from Singuimatu, you will meet with cities and towns where prodigious trading is exercised. The inhabitants of these countries are idolaters, subject to the Great Khan. After that, sixteen days, you come unto a great river named Caramoran, which is said to take its rise in the kingdom of Umean, or Presbyter John, in the north. It is very deep, and carries ships of great burthen; it is also well stocked with fish, within one day’s journey of the sea. There are in this river fifteen thousand sail, each of which carries fifteen horses and twenty men, besides victuals and mariners. This is the Khan’s fleet, kept there in readiness to carry an army to any of the islands if they should rebel, or to any remote region. Near the bank of the river where these ships are kept is Coiganzu, and over against it Quanzu, one a great city, the other a small one. After you are past that river, you enter into the noble kingdom of Mangi; but you must not think that we have handled in order the whole province of Cathay, having not spoken of the twentieth part; for Marco Polo, passing by the said province, hath only described the cities in his way, leaving those on both hands, and those betwixt these, to prevent tediousness, and to avoid writing from hearsay.