The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 3

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

ACCOUNT OF THE CITY OF JUJU.

When you leave the Bridge, and ride towards the west, finding all the way excellent hostelries for travellers, with fine vineyards, fields, and gardens, and springs of water, you come after 30 miles to a fine large city called JUJU, where there are many abbeys of idolaters, and the people live by trade and manufactures. They weave cloths of silk and gold, and very fine taffetas.[NOTE 1] Here too there are many hostelries for travellers.[NOTE 2]

After riding a mile beyond this city you find two roads, one of which goes west and the other south-east. The westerly road is that through Cathay, and the south-easterly one goes towards the province of Manzi.[NOTE 3]

Taking the westerly one through Cathay, and travelling by it for ten days, you find a constant succession of cities and boroughs, with numerous thriving villages, all abounding with trade and manufactures, besides the fine fields and vineyards and dwellings of civilized people; but nothing occurs worthy of special mention; and so I will only speak of a kingdom called TAIANFU.

NOTE 1.--The word _sendaus_ (Pauthier), pl. of _sendal_, and in G.T.

_sandal_. It does not seem perfectly known what this silk texture was, but as banners were made of it, and linings for richer stuffs, it appears to have been a light material, and is generally rendered _taffetas_. In _Richard Coeur de Lion_ we find

"Many a pencel of sykelatoun And of sendel of grene and broun,"

and also _pavilions_ of sendel; and in the Anglo-French ballad of the death of William Earl of Salisbury in St. Lewis's battle on the Nile--

"Le Meister du Temple brace les chivaux Et le Count Long-Espee depli les _sandaux_."

The oriflamme of France was made of _cendal_. Chaucer couples taffetas and sendal. His "Doctor of Physic"

"In sanguin and in perse clad was alle, Lined with taffata and with sendalle."

[La Curne, _Dict., s.v. Sendaus_ has: Silk stuff: "Somme de la delivrance des _sendaus_" (_Nouv. Compt. de l'Arg._ p. 19).--G.o.defroy, _Dict._, gives: "_Sendain_, adj., made with the stuff called cendal: Drap d'or _sendains_ (1392, _Test. de Blanche. duch d'Orl._, Ste-Croix, Arch. Loiret)." He says _s.v._ CENDAL, "_cendau, cendral, cendel, ... sendail_, ... etoffe legere de soie unie qui parait avoir ete a.n.a.logue au taffetas." "'On faisait des _cendaux_ forts ou faibles, et on leur donnait toute sorte de couleurs. On s'en servait surtout pour vetements et corsets, pour doublures de draps, de fourrures et d'autres etoffes de soie plus precieuses, enfin pour tenture d'appartements.' (_Bourquelot, Foir. de Champ._ I. 261)."

"J'ay de toilles de mainte guise, De sidonnes et de _cendaulx_.

Soyes, satins blancs et vermaulx."

--_Greban, Mist. de la Pa.s.s._, 26826, _G. Paris_.--H.C.]

The origin of the word seems also somewhat doubtful. The word [Greek: Sendes] occurs in _Constant. Porphyrog. de Ceremoniis_ (Bonn, ed. I. 468), and this looks like a transfer of the Arabic _Sandas_ or _Sundus_, which is applied by Bakui to the silk fabrics of Yezd. (_Not. et Ext._ II. 469.) Reiske thinks this is the origin of the Frank word, and connects its etymology with Sind. Others think that _sendal_ and the other forms are modifications of the ancient _Sindon_, and this is Mr. Marsh's view. (See also _Fr. Michel, Recherches, etc._ I. 212; _Dict. des Tissus_, II. 171 seqq.)

NOTE 2.--JuJu is precisely the name given to this city by Ras.h.i.+duddin, who notices the vineyards. Juju is CHO-CHAU, just at the distance specified from Peking, viz. 40 miles, and nearly 30 from Pulisanghin or Lu-kou K'iao.

The name of the town is printed _Tsochow_ by Mr. Williamson, and _Chechow_ in a late Report of a journey by Consul Oxenham. He calls it "a large town of the second order, situated on the banks of a small river flowing towards the south-east, viz. the Kiu-ma-Ho, a navigable stream. It had the appearance of being a place of considerable trade, and the streets were crowded with people." (_Reports of Journeys in China and j.a.pan_, etc.

Presented to Parliament, 1869, p. 9.) The place is called _Juju_ also in the Persian itinerary given by 'Izzat Ullah in _J.R.A.S._ VII. 308; and in one procured by Mr. Shaw. (_Proc.R.G.S._ XVI. p. 253.)

[The Rev. W.S. Ament (_Marco Polo_, 119-120) writes, "the historian of the city of Cho-chau sounds the praises of the people for their religious spirit". He says:--"It was the custom of the ancients to wors.h.i.+p those who were before them. Thus students wors.h.i.+pped their instructors, farmers wors.h.i.+pped the first husbandman, workers in silk, the original silk-worker.

Thus when calamities come upon the land, the virtuous among the people make offerings to the spirits of earth and heaven, the mountains, rivers, streams, etc. All these things are profitable. These customs should never be forgotten.' After such instruction, we are prepared to find fifty-eight temples of every variety in this little city of about 20,000 inhabitants.

There is a temple to the spirits of Wind, Clouds, Thunder, and Rain, to the G.o.d of silk-workers, to the Horse-G.o.d, to the G.o.d of locusts, and the eight destructive insects, to the Five Dragons, to the King who quiets the waves.

Besides these, there are all the orthodox temples to the ancient worthies, and some modern heroes. Liu Pei and Chang Fei, two of the three great heroes of the _San Kuo Chih_, being natives of Cho Chou, are each honoured with two temples, one in the native village, and one in the city. It is not often that one locality can give to a great empire two of its three most popular heroes: Liu Pei, Chang Fei, Kuan Yu."

"Judging from the condition of the country," writes the Rev. W.S. Ament (p. 120), "one could hardly believe that this general region was the original home of the silk-worm, and doubtless the people who once lived here are the only people who ever saw the silk-worm in his wild state. The historian of Cho-Chou honestly remarks that he knows of no reason why the production of silk should have ceased there, except the fact that the worms refused to live there.... The palmy days of the silk industry were in the T'ang dynasty."--H.C.]

NOTE 3.--"About a _li_ from the southern suburbs of this town, the great road to Shantung and the south-east diverged, causing an immediate diminution in the number of carts and travellers" (_Oxenham_). [From Peking "to Cheng-ting fu, says Colonel Bell (_Proc.R.G.S._, XII. 1890, p. 58), the route followed is the Great Southern highway; here the Great Central Asian highway leaves it." The Rev. W.S. Ament says (l.c., 121) about the bifurcation of the road, one branch going on south-west to Pao-Ting fu and Shan-si, and one branch to Shantung and Ho-nan: "The union of the two roads at this point, bringing the travel and traffic of ten provinces, makes Cho Chou one of the most important cities in the Empire. The magistrate of this district is the only one, so far as we know, in the Empire who is relieved of the duty of welcoming and escorting transient officers. It was the multiplicity of such duties, so hara.s.sing, that persuaded Fang Kuan-ch'eng to write the couplet on one of the city gateways: _Jih pien ch'ung yao, wu shuang ti: T'ien hsia fan nan, ti yi Chou_. 'In all the world, there is no place so public as this: for multiplied cares and trials, this is the first Chou.' The people of Cho-Chou, of old celebrated for their religious spirit, are now well known for their literary enterprise."--H.C.] This bifurcation of the roads is a notable point in Polo's book. For after following the western road through Cathay, i.e. the northern provinces of China, to the borders of Tibet and the Indo-Chinese regions, our traveller will return, whimsically enough, not to the capital to take a fresh departure, but to this bifurcation outside of Chochau, and thence carry us south with him to Manzi, or China south of the Yellow River.

Of a part of the road of which Polo speaks in the latter part of the chapter Williamson says: "The drive was a very beautiful one. Not only were the many villages almost hidden by foliage, but the road itself hereabouts is lined with trees.... The effect was to make the journey like a ramble through the avenues of some English park." Beyond Tingchau however the country becomes more barren. (I. 268.)

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

THE KINGDOM OF TAIANFU.

After riding then those ten days from the city of Juju, you find yourself in a kingdom called TAIANFU, and the city at which you arrive, which is the capital, is also called Taianfu, a very great and fine city. [But at the end of five days' journey out of those ten, they say there is a city unusually large and handsome called ACBALUC, whereat terminate in this direction the hunting preserves of the Emperor, within which no one dares to sport except the Emperor and his family, and those who are on the books of the Grand Falconer. Beyond this limit any one is at liberty to sport, if he be a gentleman. The Great Kaan, however, scarcely ever went hunting in this direction, and hence the game, particularly the hares, had increased and multiplied to such an extent that all the crops of the Province were destroyed. The Great Kaan being informed of this, proceeded thither with all his Court, and the game that was taken was past counting.][NOTE 1]

Taianfu[NOTE 2] is a place of great trade and great industry, for here they manufacture a large quant.i.ty of the most necessary equipments for the army of the Emperor. There grow here many excellent vines, supplying great plenty of wine; and in all Cathay this is the only place where wine is produced. It is carried hence all over the country.[NOTE 3] There is also a great deal of silk here, for the people have great quant.i.ties of mulberry-trees and silk-worms.

From this city of Taianfu you ride westward again for seven days, through fine districts with plenty of towns and boroughs, all enjoying much trade and practising various kinds of industry. Out of these districts go forth not a few great merchants, who travel to India and other foreign regions, buying and selling and getting gain. After those seven days' journey you arrive at a city called PIANFU, a large and important place, with a number of traders living by commerce and industry. It is a place too where silk is largely produced.[NOTE 4]

So we will leave it and tell you of a great city called Cachanfu. But stay--first let us tell you about the n.o.ble castle called Caichu.

NOTE 1.--Marsden translates the commencement of this pa.s.sage, which is peculiar to Ramusio, and runs "_E in capo di cinque giornate delle predette dieci_," by the words "At the end of five days' journey _beyond_ the ten,"

but this is clearly wrong.[1] The place best suiting in position, as halfway between Cho-chau and T'ai-yuan fu, would be CHENG-TING FU, and I have little doubt that this is the place intended. The t.i.tle of _Ak-Baligh_ in Turki,[2] or _Chaghan Balghasun_ in Mongol, meaning "White City," was applied by the Tartars to Royal Residences; and possibly Cheng-ting fu may have had such a claim, for I observe in the _Annales de la Prop. de la Foi_ (x.x.xiii. 387) that in 1862 the Chinese Government granted to the R.C.

Vicar-Apostolic of Chihli the ruined _Imperial Palace_ at Cheng-ting fu for his cathedral and other mission establishments. Moreover, as a matter of fact, Ras.h.i.+duddin's account of Chinghiz's campaign in northern China in 1214, speaks of the city of "Chaghan Balghasun which the Chinese call _Jintzinfu_." This is almost exactly the way in which the name of Cheng-ting fu is represented in 'Izzat Ullah's Persian Itinerary (_Jigdzinfu_, evidently a clerical error for _Jingdzinfu_), so I think there can be little doubt that Cheng-ting fu is the place intended. The name of Hwai-luh'ien (see Note 2), which is the first stage beyond Cheng-ting fu, is said to mean the "Deer-lair," pointing apparently to the old character of the tract as a game-preserve. The city of Cheng-ting is described by Consul Oxenham as being now in a decayed and dilapidated condition, consisting only of two long streets crossing at right angles. It is noted for the manufacture of images of Buddha from Shan-si iron.

(_Consular Reports_, p. 10; _Erdmann_, 331.)

[The main road turns due west at Cheng-ting fu, and enters Shan-si through what is known among Chinese travellers as the Ku-kwan, Customs'

Barrier.--H.C.]

Between Cheng-ting fu and T'ai-yuan fu the traveller first crosses a high and rugged range of mountains, and then ascends by narrow defiles to the plateau of Shan-si. But of these features Polo's excessive condensation takes no notice.

The traveller who quits the great plain of Chihli [which terminates at Fu-ch'eng-i, a small market-town, two days from Pao-ting.--H.C.] for "the kingdom of Taianfu," i.e. Northern Shan-si, enters a tract in which predominates that very remarkable formation called by the Chinese _Hw.a.n.g-tu_ and to which the German name _Loss_ has been attached. With this formation are bound up the distinguis.h.i.+ng characters of Northern Interior China, not merely in scenery but in agricultural products, dwellings, and means of transport. This _Loss_ is a brownish-yellow loam, highly porous, spreading over low and high ground alike, smoothing over irregularities of surface, and often more than 1000 feet in thickness. It has no stratification, but tends to cleave vertically, and is traversed in every direction by sudden crevices, almost glacier-like, narrow, with vertical walls of great depth, and infinite ramification. Smooth as the loss basin looks in a bird's-eye view, it is thus one of the most impracticable countries conceivable for military movements, and secures extraordinary value to fortresses in well-chosen sites, such as that of Tung-kwan mentioned in Note 2 to chap. xli.

Agriculture may be said in N. China to be confined to the alluvial plains and the loss; as in S. China to the alluvial plains and the terraced hill-sides. The loss has some peculiar quality which renders its productive power self-renewing without manure (unless it be in the form of a surface coat of fresh loss), and unfailing in returns if there be sufficient rain.

This singular formation is supposed by Baron Richthofen, who has studied it more extensively than any one, to be no subaqueous deposit, but to be the acc.u.mulated residue of countless generations of herbaceous plants combined with a large amount of material spread over the face of the ground by the winds and surface waters.

[I do not agree with the theory of Baron von Richthofen, of the almost exclusive Eolian formation of _loess_; water has something to do with it as well as wind, and I think it is more exact to say that loess _in China_ is due to a double action, Neptunian as well as Eolian. The climate was different in former ages from what it is now, and rain was plentiful and to its great quant.i.ty was due the fertility of this yellow soil. (Cf. _A. de Lapparent, Lecons de Geographie Physique_, 2'e ed. 1898, p. 566.)--H.C.]

Though we do not expect to find Polo taking note of geological features, we are surprised to find no mention of a characteristic of Shan-si and the adjoining districts, which is due to the _loss_; viz. the practice of forming cave dwellings in it; these in fact form the habitations of a majority of the people in the loss country. Polo _has_ noticed a similar usage in Badakhshan (I. p. 161), and it will be curious if a better acquaintance with that region should disclose a surface formation a.n.a.logous to the _loss_. (_Richthofen's Letters_, VII. 13 _et pa.s.sim_.)

NOTE 2.--Taianfu is, as Magaillans pointed out, T'AI-YUAN FU, the capital of the Province of Shan-si, and Shan-si is the "Kingdom." The city was, however, the capital of the great T'ang Dynasty for a time in the 8th century, and is probably the _Tajah_ or _Taiyunah_ of old Arab writers. Mr.

Williamson speaks of it as a very pleasant city at the north end of a most fertile and beautiful plain, between two n.o.ble ranges of mountains. It was a residence, he says, also of the Ming princes, and is laid out in Peking fas.h.i.+on, even to mimicking the Coal-Hill and Lake of the Imperial Gardens.

It stands about 3000 feet above the sea [on the left bank of the Fen-ho.--H.C.]. There is still an Imperial factory of artillery, matchlocks, etc., as well as a powder mill; and fine carpets like those of Turkey are also manufactured. The city is not, however, now, according to Baron Richthofen, very populous, and conveys no impression of wealth or commercial importance. [In an interesting article on this city, the Rev. G.

B. Farthing writes (_North China Herald_, 7th September, 1894): "The configuration of the ground enclosed by T'ai-yuan fu city is that of a 'three times to stretch rec.u.mbent cow.' The site was chosen and described by Li Chun-feng, a celebrated professor of geomancy in the days of the T'angs, who lived during the reign of the Emperor T'ai Tsung of that ilk.

The city having been then founded, its history reaches back to that date.

Since that time the cow has stretched twice.... T'ai-yuan city is square, and surrounded by a wall of earth, of which the outer face is bricked. The height of the wall varies from thirty to fifty feet, and it is so broad that two carriages could easily pa.s.s one another upon it. The natives would tell you that each of the sides is three miles, thirteen paces in length, but this, possibly, includes what it will be when the cow shall have stretched for the third and last time. Two miles is the length of each side; eight miles to tramp if you wish to go round the four of them."--H.

C.] The district used to be much noted for cutlery and hardware, iron as well as coal being abundantly produced in Shan-si. Apparently the present Birmingham of this region is a town called Hwai-lu, or Hwo-luh'ien, about 20 miles west of Cheng-ting fu, and just on the western verge of the great plain of Chihli. [Regarding Hwai-lu, the Rev. C. Holcombe calls it "a miserable town lying among the foot hills, and at the mouth of the valley, up which the road into Shan-si lies." He writes (p. 59) that Ping-ting chau, after the Customs' barrier (Ku Kwan) between Chih-li and Shan-si, would, under any proper system of management, at no distant day become the Pittsburg, or Birmingham, of China.--H.C.] (_Richthofen's Letters_, No.

VII. 20; _Cathay_, xcvii. cxiii. cxciv.; _Rennie_, II. 265; _Williamson's Journeys in North China; Oxenham_, u.s. II; _Klaproth_ in _J. As._ ser. II.

tom. i. 100; _Izzat Ullah's Pers. Itin._ in _J.R.A.S._ VII. 307; _Forke, Von Peking nach Ch'ang-an_, p. 23.)

["From Khavailu (Hwo-luh'ien), an important commercial centre supplying Shansi, for 130 miles to Sze-tien, the road traverses the loess hills, which extend from the Peking-Kalgan road in a south-west direction to the Yellow River, and which are pa.s.sable throughout this length only by the Great Central Asian trade route to T'ai-yuan fu and by the Tung-Kwan, Ho-nan, i.e. the Yellow River route. (_Colonel Bell, Proc.R.G.S._ XII.

1890, p. 59.) Colonel Bell reckons seven days (218 miles) from Peking to Hwo-lu-h'ien and five days from this place to T'ai-yuan fu."--H.C.]