The Travels of Marco Polo Volume I Part 110

[7] I had entirely forgotten to look at Trigault till Mr. Wylie sent me the extract. The copy I use (_De Christiana Expeditione apud Sinas ...

Auct. Nicolao Trigautio_) is of _Lugdun_. 1616. The first edition was published at _August. Vindelicorum_ (Augsburg) in 1615: the French, at Lyons, in 1616.

[8] "Pinnulis."

[9] "_Et stilus eo modo quo in horologiis ad perpendiculum collocatus_."

[10] The _Alidada_ is the traversing index bar which carries the _dioptra_, _pinnules_, or sight-vanes. The word is found in some older English Dictionaries, and in France and Italy is still applied to the traversing index of a plane table or of a s.e.xtant. Littre derives it from (Ar.) _'adad_, enumeration; but it is really from a quite different word, _al-idadat_ [Arabic] "a door-post," which is found in this sense in an Arabic treatise on the Astrolabe. (See _Dozy and Engelmann_, p. 140.)

[11] This is an error of Ricci's, as Mr. Wylie observes, or of his reporter.

The Chinese divide their year into 24 portions of 15 days each.

Of these 24 divisions twelve called _Kung_ mark the twelve places in which the sun and moon come into conjunction, and are thus in some degree a.n.a.logous to our 12 signs of the Zodiac. The names of these _Kung_ are entirely different from those of our sign, though since the 17th century the Western Zodiac, with paraphrased names, has been introduced in some of their books. But besides that, they divide the heavens into 28 stellar s.p.a.ces. The correspondence of this division to the Hindu system of the 28 Lunar Mansions, called _Nakshatras_, has given rise to much discussion. The Chinese _sieu_ or stellar s.p.a.ces are excessively unequal, varying from 24 in equatorial extent down to 24'. (_Williams_, op. cit.) [See _P. Hoang_, supra p. 449.]

[12] Mr. Wylie is inclined to distrust the accuracy of this remark, as the only city nearly on the 36th parallel is P'ing-yang fu.

But we have noted in regard to this (Polo's Pianfu, vol. ii. p. 17) that a college for the education of Mongol youth was inst.i.tuted here, by the great minister Yeliu Chutsai, whose devotion to astronomy Mr.

Wylie has noticed above. In fact, two colleges were established by him, one at Yenking, i.e. Peking, the other at P'ing-yang; and astronomy is specified as one of the studies to be pursued at these.

(See _D'Ohsson_, II. 71-72, quoting _De Mailla_.) It seems highly probable that the two sets of instruments were originally intended for these two inst.i.tutions, and that one set was carried to Nanking, when the Ming set their capital there in 1368.

[13] The 28 _sieu_ or stellar s.p.a.ces, above spoken of, do not extend to the Pole; they are indeed very unequal in extent on the meridian as well as on the equator. And the area in the northern sky not embraced in them is divided into three large s.p.a.ces called _Yuen_ or enclosures, of which the field of circ.u.mpolar stars (or circle of perpetual apparition) forms one which is called _Tze-Wei_.

(_Williams_.)

The southern circ.u.mpolar stars form a fourth s.p.a.ce, beyond the 28 _sieu_. Ibid.

[14] "This was obviously made in France. There is nothing Chinese about it, either in construction or ornament. It is very different from all the others." (_Note by Mr. Wylie._)

[15] "There follows a minute description of the bra.s.s clepsydra, and the bra.s.s gnomon, which it is unnecessary to translate. I have seen both these instruments, in two of the lower rooms."--Id.

[16] [Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J., was born at Pitthens, near Courtrai; he arrived in China in 1659 and died at Peking on the 29th January, 1688.--H. C.]

[17] We have attached letters A, B, C, to indicate the correspondences of the ancient instruments, and cyphers 1, 2, 3, to indicate the correspondences of the modern instruments.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

[CONCERNING THE RELIGION OF THE CATHAYANS;[NOTE 1] THEIR VIEWS AS TO THE SOUL; AND THEIR CUSTOMS.

As we have said before, these people are Idolaters, and as regards their G.o.ds, each has a tablet fixed high up on the wall of his chamber, on which is inscribed a name which represents the Most High and Heavenly G.o.d; and before this they pay daily wors.h.i.+p, offering incense from a thurible, raising their hands aloft, and gnas.h.i.+ng their teeth[NOTE 2] three times, praying Him to grant them health of mind and body; but of Him they ask nought else. And below on the ground there is a figure which they call _Natigai_, which is the G.o.d of things terrestrial. To him they give a wife and children, and they wors.h.i.+p him in the same manner, with incense, and gnas.h.i.+ng of teeth,[NOTE 2] and lifting up of hands; and of him they ask seasonable weather, and the fruits of the earth, children, and so forth.[NOTE 3]

Their view of the immortality of the soul is after this fas.h.i.+on. They believe that as soon as a man dies, his soul enters into another body, going from a good to a better, or from a bad to a worse, according as he hath conducted himself well or ill. That is to say, a poor man, if he have pa.s.sed through life good and sober, shall be born again of a gentlewoman, and shall be a gentleman; and on a second occasion shall be born of a princess and shall be a prince, and so on, always rising, till he be absorbed into the Deity. But if he have borne himself ill, he who was the son of a gentleman shall be reborn as the son of a boor, and from a boor shall become a dog, always going down lower and lower.

The people have an ornate style of speech; they salute each other with a cheerful countenance, and with great politeness; they behave like gentlemen, and eat with great propriety.[NOTE 4] They show great respect to their parents; and should there be any son who offends his parents, or fails to minister to their necessities, there is a public office which has no other charge but that of punis.h.i.+ng unnatural children, who are proved to have acted with ingrat.i.tude towards their parents.[NOTE 5]

Criminals of sundry kinds who have been imprisoned, are released at a time fixed by the Great Kaan (which occurs every three years), but on leaving prison they are branded on one cheek that they may be recognized.

The Great Kaan hath prohibited all gambling and sharping, things more prevalent there than in any other part of the world. In doing this, he said: "I have conquered you by force of arms, and all that you have is mine; if, therefore, you gamble away your property, it is in fact my property that you are gambling away." Not that he took anything from them however.

I must not omit to tell you of the orderly way in which the Kaan's Barons and others conduct themselves in coming to his presence. In the first place, within a half mile of the place where he is, out of reverence for his exalted majesty, everybody preserves a mien of the greatest meekness and quiet, so that no noise of shrill voices or loud talk shall be heard.

And every one of the chiefs and n.o.bles carries always with him a handsome little vessel to spit in whilst he remain in the Hall of Audience--for no one dares spit on the floor of the hall,--and when he hath spitten he covers it up and puts it aside.[NOTE 6] So also they all have certain handsome buskins of white leather, which they carry with them, and, when summoned by the sovereign, on arriving at the entrance to the hall, they put on these white buskins, and give their others in charge to the servants, in order that they may not foul the fine carpets of silk and gold and divers colours.]

NOTE 1.--Ramusio's heading has _Tartars_, but it is manifestly of the Cathayans or Chinese that the author speaks throughout this chapter.

NOTE 2.--"_Sbattendo i denti_." This is almost certainly, as Marsden has noticed, due to some error of transcription. Probably _Battono i fronti_, or something similar, was the true reading. [See following note, p. 461.--H. C.]

NOTE 3.--The latter part of this pa.s.sage has, I doubt not, been more or less interpolated, seeing that it introduces again as a _Chinese_ divinity the rude object of primitive Tartar wors.h.i.+p, of which we have already heard in Bk. I. ch. liii. And regarding the former part of the pa.s.sage, one cannot but have some doubt whether what was taken for the symbol of the Most High was not the ancestral tablet, which is usually placed in one of the inner rooms of the house, and before which wors.h.i.+p is performed at fixed times, and according to certain established forms. Something, too, may have been known of the Emperor's wors.h.i.+p of Heaven at the great circular temple at Peking, called _T'ien-t'an_, or Altar of Heaven (see p.

459), where incensed offerings are made before a tablet, on which is inscribed the name Yuh-Hw.a.n.g Shang-ti, which some interpret as "The Supreme Ruler of the Imperial Heavens," and regard as the nearest approach to pure Theism of which there is any indication in Chinese wors.h.i.+p (See _Doolittle_, pp. 170, 625; and _Lockhart_ in _J. R. G. S._, x.x.xvi. 142).

This wors.h.i.+p is mentioned by the Mahomedan narrator of Shah Rukh's emba.s.sy (1421): "Every year there are some days on which the Emperor eats no animal food.... He spends his time in an apartment which contains no idol, and says that he is wors.h.i.+pping the G.o.d of Heaven."[1] (_Ind. Antiquary_, II. 81.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Great Temple of Heaven, Peking.]

The charge of irreligion against the Chinese is an old one, and is made by Hayton in nearly the same terms as it often is by modern missionaries: "And though these people have the acutest intelligence in all matters wherein material things are concerned, yet you shall never find among them any knowledge or perception of spiritual things." Yet it is a mistake to suppose that this insensibility has been so universal as it is often represented. To say nothing of the considerable numbers who have adhered faithfully to the Roman Catholic Church, the large number of Mahomedans in China, of whom many must have been proselytes, indicates an interest in religion; and that Buddhism itself was in China once a spiritual power of no small energy will, I think, be plain to any one who reads the very interesting extracts in Schott's essay on Buddhism in Upper Asia and China. (_Berlin Acad. of Sciences_, 1846.) These seem to be so little known that I will translate two or three of them. "In the years _Yuan-yeu_ of the Sung (A.D. 1086-1093), a pious matron with her two servants lived entirely to the Land of Enlightenment. One of the maids said one day to her companion: 'To-night I shall pa.s.s over to the Realm of Amita.' The same night a balsamic odour filled the house, and the maid died without any preceding illness. On the following day the surviving maid said to the lady: 'Yesterday my deceased companion appeared to me in a dream, and said to me: "Thanks to the persevering exhortations of our mistress, I am become a partaker of Paradise, and my blessedness is past all expression in words."' The matron replied: 'If she will appear to me also then I will believe what you say.' Next night the deceased really appeared to her, and saluted her with respect. The lady asked: 'May I, for once, visit the Land of Enlightenment?' 'Yea,' answered the Blessed Soul, 'thou hast but to follow thy handmaiden.' The lady followed her (in her dream), and soon perceived a lake of immeasurable expanse, overspread with innumerable red and white lotus flowers, of various sizes, some blooming, some fading. She asked what those flowers might signify? The maiden replied: 'These are all human beings on the earth whose thoughts are turned to the Land of Enlightenment. The very first longing after the Paradise of Amita produces a flower in the Celestial Lake, and this becomes daily larger and more glorious, as the self-improvement of the person whom it represents advances; in the contrary case, it loses in glory and fades away.'[2] The matron desired to know the name of an enlightened one who reposed on one of the flowers, clad in a waving and wondrously glistening raiment. Her whilom maiden answered: 'That is Yangkie.' Then asked she the name of another, and was answered: 'That is Mahu.' The lady then said: 'At what place shall I hereafter come into existence?' Then the Blessed Soul led her a s.p.a.ce further, and showed her a hill that gleamed with gold and azure. 'Here,' said she, 'is your future abode. You will belong to the first order of the blessed.' When the matron awoke she sent to enquire for Yangkie and Mahu. The first was already departed; the other still alive and well. And thus the lady learned that the soul of one who advances in holiness and never turns back, may be already a dweller in the Land of Enlightenment, even though the body still sojourn in this transitory world" (pp. 55-56).

What a singular counterpart the striking conclusion here forms to Dante's tremendous a.s.sault on a still living villain,--or enemy!

--"che per sua opra In anima in Cocito gia si bagna, Ed in corpo par vivo ancor di sopra."

--_Infern._ x.x.xiii. 155.

Again: "I knew a man who during his life had killed many living beings, and was at last struck with an apoplexy. The sorrows in store for his sin-laden soul pained me to the heart; I visited him, and exhorted him to call on the Amita; but he obstinately refused, and spoke only of indifferent matters. His illness clouded his understanding; in consequence of his misdeeds he had become hardened. What was before such a man when once his eyes were closed? Wherefore let men be converted while there is yet time! In this life the night followeth the day, and the winter followeth the summer; that, all men are aware of. But that life is followed by death, no man will consider. Oh, what blindness and obduracy is this!"

(p. 93).

Again: "Hoang-ta-tie, of T'ancheu (Changshu-fu in Honan), who lived under the Sung, followed the craft of a blacksmith. Whenever he was at his work he used to call without intermission on the name of Amita Buddha. One day he handed to his neighbours the following verses of his own composing to be spread about:--

'Ding dong! The hammer-strokes fall long and fast, Until the Iron turns to steel at last!

Now shall the long long Day of Rest begin, The Land of Bliss Eternal calls me in.'

Thereupon he died. But his verses spread all over Honan, and many learned to call upon Buddha" (103).

Once more: "In my own town there lived a physician by name Chang-yan-ming.

He was a man who never took payment for his treatment from any one in poor or indifferent circ.u.mstances; nay, he would often make presents to such persons of money or corn to lighten their lot. If a rich man would have his advice and paid him a fee, he never looked to see whether it were much or little. If a patient lay so dangerously ill that Yanming despaired of his recovery, he would still give him good medicine to comfort his heart, but never took payment for it. I knew this man for many a year, and I never heard the word _Money_ pa.s.s his lips! One day a fire broke out in the town, and laid the whole of the houses in ashes; only that of the physician was spared. His sons and grandsons reached high dignities" (p.

110).

Of such as this physician the apostle said: "Of a truth I perceive that G.o.d is no respecter of persons; But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him."

["By the 'Most High and Heavenly G.o.d,' wors.h.i.+pped by the Chinese, as Marco Polo reports, evidently the Chinese _T'ien_, 'Heaven' is meant, _Lao t'ien ye_ in the common language. Regarding 'the G.o.d of things terrestrial,'

whose figure the Chinese, according to M. Polo, 'placed below on the ground,' there can also be no doubt that he understands the _T'u-ti_, the local 'Lar' of the Chinese, to which they present sacrifices on the floor, near the wall under the table.

"M. Polo reports, that the Chinese wors.h.i.+p their G.o.d offering incense, raising their hands aloft, and gnas.h.i.+ng their teeth. Of course he means that they placed the hands together, or held kindled joss-stick bundles in their hands, according to the Chinese custom. The statement of M. Polo _sbattendo i denti_ is very remarkable. It seems to me, that very few of the Chinese are aware of the fact, that this custom still exists among the Taouists. In the rituals of the Taouists the _K'ow-ch'i_ (_Ko'w_ = 'to knock against,'_ch'i_ = 'teeth') is prescribed as a comminatory and propitiatory act. It is effected by the four upper and lower foreteeth.

The Taouists are obliged before the service begins to perform a certain number of '_K'ow-ch'i_, turning their heads alternately to the left and to the right, in order to drive away mundane thoughts and aggressions of bad spirits. The _K'ow-ch'i_ repeated three times is called _ming fa ku_ in Chinese, i.e. 'to beat the spiritual drum.' The ritual says, that it is heard by the Most High Ruler, who is moved by it to grace.

"M. Polo observed this custom among the lay heathen. Indeed, it appears from a small treatise, written in China more than a hundred years before M. Polo, that at the time the Chinese author wrote, all devout men, entering a temple, used to perform the _K'ow-ch'i_, and considered it an expression of veneration and devotion to the idols. Thus this custom had been preserved to the time of M. Polo, who did not fail to mention this strange peculiarity in the exterior observances of the Chinese. As regards the present time it seems to me, that this custom is not known among the people, and even with respect to the Taouists it is only performed on certain occasions, and not in all Taouist temples." (_Palladius_, pp.

53-54.)--H. C.]

NOTE 4.--"True politeness cannot of course be taught by rules merely, but a great degree of urbanity and kindness is everywhere shown, whether owing to the naturally placable disposition of the people, or to the effects of their early instruction in the forms of politeness." (_Mid. Kingdom_, II.

68.) As regards the "ornate style of speech," a well-bred Chinaman never says _I_ or _You_, but for the former "the little person," "the disciple,"

"the inferior," and so on; and for the latter, "the learned man," "the master," or even "the emperor." These phrases, however, are not confined to China, most of them having exact parallels in Hindustani courtesy. On this subject and the courteous disposition of the Chinese, see _Fontaney_, in _Lett. Edif._ VII. 287 seqq.; also XI. 287 seqq.; _Semedo_, 36; _Lecomte_, II. 48 seqq. There are, however, strong differences of opinion expressed on this subject; there is, apparently, much more genuine courtesy in the north than in the south.