The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 46

When you leave the Island of Angamanain and sail about a thousand miles in a direction a little south of west, you come to the Island of SEILAN, [NOTE 1] which is in good sooth the best Island of its size in the world.

You must know that it has a compa.s.s of 2400 miles, but in old times it was greater still, for it then had a circuit of about 3600 miles, as you find in the charts of the mariners of those seas. But the north wind there blows with such strength that it has caused the sea to submerge a large part of the Island; and that is the reason why it is not so big now as it used to be. For you must know that, on the side where the north wind strikes, the Island is very low and flat, insomuch that in approaching on board s.h.i.+p from the high seas you do not see the land till you are right upon it.[NOTE 2] Now I will tell you all about this Island.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP to Ill.u.s.trate POLO'S Chapters on India MAP to Ill.u.s.trate POLO's Chapters on the Malay Countries]

They have a king there whom they call SENDEMAIN, and are tributary to n.o.body.[NOTE 3] The people are Idolaters, and go quite naked except that they cover the middle. They have no wheat, but have rice, and sesamum of which they make their oil. They live on flesh and milk, and have tree-wine such as I have told you of. And they have brazil-wood, much the best in the world.[NOTE 4]

Now I will quit these particulars, and tell you of the most precious article that exists in the world. You must know that rubies are found in this Island and in no other country in the world but this. They find there also sapphires and topazes and amethysts, and many other stones of price.

And the King of this Island possesses a ruby which is the finest and biggest in the world; I will tell you what it is like. It is about a palm in length, and as thick as a man's arm; to look at, it is the most resplendent object upon earth; it is quite free from flaw and as red as fire. Its value is so great that a price for it in money could hardly be named at all. You must know that the Great Kaan sent an emba.s.sy and begged the King as a favour greatly desired by him to sell him this ruby, offering to give for it the ransom of a city, or in fact what the King would. But the King replied that on no account whatever would he sell it, for it had come to him from his ancestors.[NOTE 5]

The people of Seilan are no soldiers, but poor cowardly creatures. And when they have need of soldiers they get Saracen troops from foreign parts.

[NOTE 1.--Mr. Geo. Phillips gives (_Seaports of India_, p. 216 et seqq.) the Star Chart used by Chinese Navigators on their return voyage from Ceylon to _Su-men-ta-la_.--H.C.]

NOTE 2.--Valentyn appears to be repeating a native tradition when he says: "In old times the island had, as they loosely say, a good 400 miles (i.e. Dutch, say 1600 miles) of compa.s.s, but at the north end the sea has from time to time carried away a large part of it." (_Ceylon_, in vol.

v., p. 18.) Curious particulars touching the exaggerated ideas of the ancients, inherited by the Arabs, as to the dimensions of Ceylon, will be found in _Tennent's Ceylon_, ch. i. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang has the same tale. According to him, the circuit was 7000 _li_, or 1400 miles.

We see from Marco's curious notice of the old charts (G.T. "_selonc qe se treuve en la mapemondi des mariner de cel mer_") that travellers had begun to find that the dimensions _were_ exaggerated. The real circuit is under 700 miles!

On the ground that all the derivations of the name SAILAN or CEYLON from the old _Sinhala_, _Serendib_, and what not, seem forced, Van der Tuuk has suggested that the name may have been originally Javanese, being formed (he says) according to the rules of that language from _Sela_, "a precious stone," so that _Pulo Selan_ would be the "Island of Gems." [Professor Schlegel says (_Geog. Notes_, I. p. 19, note) that "it seems better to think of the Sanskrit _sila_, 'a stone or rock,' or _saila_, 'a mountain,'

which agree with the Chinese interpretation."--H.C.] The Island was really called anciently _Ratnadvipa_, "the Island of Gems" (_Mem. de H.Y._, II.

125, and _Harivansa_, I. 403); and it is termed by an Arab Historian of the 9th century _Jazirat al Yakut_, "The Isle of Rubies." [The (Chinese) characters _ya-ku-pao-s.h.i.+h_ are in some accounts of Ceylon used to express _Yakut_. (_Ma-Huan, transl. by Phillips_, p. 213.)--H.C.] As a matter of fact, we derive originally from the Malays nearly all the forms we have adopted for names of countries reached by sea to the _east_ of the Bay of Bengal, e.g. _Awa_, _Barma_, _Paigu_, _Siyam_, _China_, _j.a.pun_, _Kochi_ (Cochin China), _Champa_, _Kamboja_, _Maluka_ (properly a place in the Island of Ceram), _Suluk_, _Burnei_, _Tanasari_, _Martavan_, etc. That accidents in the history of marine affairs in those seas should have led to the adoption of the Malay and Javanese names in the case of Ceylon also is at least conceivable. But Dr. Caldwell has pointed out to me that the Pali form of Sinhala was _Sihalan_, and that this must have been colloquially shortened to Silan, for it appears in old Tamul inscriptions as Ilam.[1] Hence there is nothing really strained in the derivation of _Sailan_ from Sinhala. Tennent (_Ceylon_, I. 549) and Crawford (_Malay Dict._ p. 171) ascribe the name Selan, Zeilan, to the Portuguese, but this is quite unfounded, as our author sufficiently testifies. The name _Sailan_ also occurs in Ras.h.i.+duddin, in Hayton, and in Jorda.n.u.s (see next note). (See _Van der Tuuk_, work quoted above (p. 287), p. 118; _J. As._ ser. IV., tom. viii. 145; _J. Ind. Arch._ IV. 187; _Elliot_, I. 70.) [_Sinhala_ or _Sihala_, "lions' abode," with the addition of "Island,"

_Sihala-dvipa_, comes down to us in Cosmas [Greek: Sielediba]

(_Hobson-Jobson_).]

NOTE 3.--The native king at this time was Pandita Prakrama Bahu III., who reigned from 1267 to 1301 at Dambadenia, about 40 miles north-north-east of Columbo. But the Tamuls of the continent had recently been in possession of the whole northern half of the island. The Singhalese Chronicle represents Prakrama to have recovered it from them, but they are so soon again found in full force that the completeness of this recovery may be doubted. There were also two invasions of Malays (_Javaku_) during this reign, under the lead of a chief called _Chandra Banu_. On the second occasion this invader was joined by a large Tamul reinforcement. Sir E.

Tennent suggests that this Chandra Banu may be Polo's _Sende-main_ or _Sendernaz_, as Ramusio has it. Or he may have been the Tamul chief in the north; the first part of the name may have been either _Chandra_ or _Sundara_.

NOTE 4.--Kazwini names the brazil, or sapan-wood of Ceylon. Ibn Batuta speaks of its abundance (IV. 166); and Ribeyro does the like (ed. of Columbo, 1847, p. 16); see also _Ritter_, VI. 39, 122; and _Trans. R.A.S._ I. 539.

Sir E. Tennent has observed that Ibn Batuta is the first to speak of the Ceylon cinnamon. It is, however, mentioned by Kazwini (circa A.D. 1275), and in a letter written from Mabar by John of Montecorvino about the very time that Marco was in these seas. (See _Ethe's Kazwini_, 229, and _Cathay_, 213.)

[Mr. G. Phillips, in the _Jour. China B.R.A.Soc._, XX. 1885, pp. 209-226; XXI. 1886, pp. 30-42, has given, under the t.i.tle of _The Seaports of India and Ceylon_, a translation of some parts of the _Ying-yai-sheng-lan_, a work of a Chinese Mahomedan, Ma-Huan, who was attached to the suite of Ch'eng-Ho, an envoy of the Emperor Yong-Lo (A.D. 1403-1425) to foreign countries. Mr. Phillips's translation is a continuation of the _Notes_ of Mr. W.P. Groeneveldt, who leaves us at Lambri, on the coast of Sumatra.

Ma-Huan takes us to the _Ts'ui-lan_ Islands (Nicobars) and to _Hsi-lan-kuo_ (Ceylon), whose "people," he says (p. 214), "are abundantly supplied with all the necessaries of life. They go about naked, except that they wear a green handkerchief round their loins, fastened with a waist-band. Their bodies are clean-shaven, and only the hair of their heads is left.... They take no meal without b.u.t.ter and milk, if they have none and wish to eat, they do so un.o.bserved and in private. The betel-nut is never out of their mouths. They have no wheat, but have rice, sesamum, and peas. The cocoa-nut, which they have in abundance, supplies them with oil, wine, sugar, and food." Ma-Huan arrived at Ceylon at Pieh-lo-li, on the 6th of the 11th moon (seventh year, Suan Teh, end of 1432). Cf. _Sylvain Levi, Ceylan et la Chine, J. As._, Mai-juin, 1900, p. 411 seqq.

Odoric and the Adjaib do not mention cinnamon among the products of Ceylon; this omission was one of the arguments of Dr. Schumann (_Erganz._ No. 73 zu _Petermann's Mitt._, 1883, p. 46) against the authenticity of the Adjaib. These arguments have been refuted in the _Livre des Merveilles de l'Inde_, p. 265 seqq.

Nicolo Conti, speaking of the "very n.o.ble island called Zeilan," says (p.

7): "Here also cinnamon grows in great abundance. It is a tree which very much resembles our thick willows, excepting that the branches do not grow upwards, but are spread out horizontally: the leaves are very like those of the laurel, but are somewhat larger. The bark of the branches is the thinnest and best, that of the trunk of the tree is thicker and inferior in flavour. The fruit resembles the berries of the laurel; an odoriferous oil is extracted from it adapted for ointments, which are much used by the Indians. When the bark is stripped off, the wood is used for fuel."--H.C.]

NOTE 5.--There seems to have been always afloat among Indian travellers, at least from the time of Cosmas (6th century), some wonderful story about the ruby or rubies of the king of Ceylon. With Cosmas, and with the Chinese Hiuen Tsang, in the following century, this precious object is fixed on the top of a paG.o.da, "a hyacinth, they say, of great size and brilliant ruddy colour, as big as a great pine-cone; and when 'tis seen from a distance flas.h.i.+ng, especially if the sun's rays strike upon it, 'tis a glorious and incomparable spectacle." Our author's contemporary, Hayton, had heard of the great ruby: "The king of that Island of Celan hath the largest and finest ruby in existence. When his coronation takes place this ruby is placed in his hand, and he goes round the city on horseback holding it in his hand, and thenceforth all recognise and obey him as their king." Odoric too speaks of the great ruby and the Kaan's endeavours to get it, though by some error the circ.u.mstance is referred to Nicoveran instead of Ceylon. Ibn Batuta saw in the possession of Arya Chakravarti, a Tamul chief ruling at Patlam, a ruby bowl as big as the palm of one's hand. Friar Jorda.n.u.s speaks of two great rubies belonging to the king of SYLEN, each so large that when grasped in the hand it projected a finger's breadth at either side. The fame, at least, of these survived to the 16th century, for Andrea Corsali (1515) says: "They tell that the king of this island possesses two rubies of colour so brilliant and vivid that they look like a flame of fire."

Sir E. Tennent, on this subject, quotes from a Chinese work a statement that early in the 14th century the Emperor sent an officer to Ceylon to purchase a carbuncle of unusual l.u.s.tre. This was fitted as a ball to the Emperor's cap; it was upwards of an ounce in weight and cost 100,000 strings of cash. Every time a grand levee was held at night the red l.u.s.tre filled the palace, and hence it was designated "The Red Palace-Illuminator." (_I.B._ IV. 174-175; _Cathay_, p. clxxvii.; _Hayton_, ch. vi.; _Jord._ p. 30; _Ramus._ I. 180; _Ceylon_, I. 568).

["This mountain [Adam's Peak] abounds with rubies of all kinds and other precious stones. These gems are being continually washed out of the ground by heavy rains, and are sought for and found in the sand carried down the hill by the torrents. It is currently reported among the people, that these precious stones are the congealed tears of Buddha." (_Ma-Huan, transl. by Phillips_, p. 213.)

In the Chinese work _Cho keng lu_, containing notes on different matters referring to the time of the Mongol Dynasty, in ch. vii. ent.i.tled _Hwui hwui s.h.i.+ t'ou_ ("Precious Stones of the Mohammedans") among the four kinds of red stones is mentioned the _si-la-ni_ of a dark red colour; _si-la-ni_, as Dr. Bretschneider observes (_Med. Res._ I. p. 174), means probably "from Ceylon." The name for ruby in China is now-a-days _hung pao s.h.i.+_, "red precious stone." (Ibid. p. 173.)--H.C.]

[1] The old Tamul alphabet has no sibilant.

CHAPTER XV.

THE SAME CONTINUED. THE HISTORY OF SAGAMONI BORCAN AND THE BEGINNING OF IDOLATRY.

Furthermore you must know that in the Island of Seilan there is an exceeding high mountain; it rises right up so steep and precipitous that no one could ascend it, were it not that they have taken and fixed to it several great and ma.s.sive iron chains, so disposed that by help of these men are able to mount to the top. And I tell you they say that on this mountain is the sepulchre of Adam our first parent; at least that is what the Saracens say. But the Idolaters say that it is the sepulchre of SAGAMONI BORCAN, before whose time there were no idols. They hold him to have been the best of men, a great saint in fact, according to their fas.h.i.+on, and the first in whose name idols were made.[NOTE 1]

He was the son, as their story goes, of a great and wealthy king. And he was of such an holy temper that he would never listen to any worldly talk, nor would he consent to be king. And when the father saw that his son would not be king, nor yet take any part in affairs, he took it sorely to heart. And first he tried to tempt him with great promises, offering to crown him king, and to surrender all authority into his hands. The son, however, would none of his offers; so the father was in great trouble, and all the more that he had no other son but him, to whom he might bequeath the kingdom at his own death. So, after taking thought on the matter, the King caused a great palace to be built, and placed his son therein, and caused him to be waited on there by a number of maidens, the most beautiful that could anywhere be found. And he ordered them to divert themselves with the prince, night and day, and to sing and dance before him, so as to draw his heart towards worldly enjoyments. But 'twas all of no avail, for none of those maidens could ever tempt the king's son to any wantonness, and he only abode the firmer in his chast.i.ty, leading a most holy life, after their manner thereof. And I a.s.sure you he was so staid a youth that he had never gone out of the palace, and thus he had never seen a dead man, nor any one who was not hale and sound; for the father never allowed any man that was aged or infirm to come into his presence. It came to pa.s.s however one day that the young gentleman took a ride, and by the roadside he beheld a dead man. The sight dismayed him greatly, as he never had seen such a sight before. Incontinently he demanded of those who were with him what thing that was? and then they told him it was a dead man.

"How, then," quoth the king's son, "do all men die?" "Yea, forsooth," said they. Whereupon the young gentleman said never a word, but rode on right pensively. And after he had ridden a good way he fell in with a very aged man who could no longer walk, and had not a tooth in his head, having lost all because of his great age. And when the king's son beheld this old man he asked what that might mean, and wherefore the man could not walk? Those who were with him replied that it was through old age the man could walk no longer, and had lost all his teeth. And so when the king's son had thus learned about the dead man and about the aged man, he turned back to his palace and said to himself that he would abide no longer in this evil world, but would go in search of Him Who dieth not, and Who had created him.[NOTE 2]

So what did he one night but take his departure from the palace privily, and betake himself to certain lofty and pathless mountains. And there he did abide, leading a life of great hards.h.i.+p and sanct.i.ty, and keeping great abstinence, just as if he had been a Christian. Indeed, an he had but been so, he would have been a great saint of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so good and pure was the life he led.[NOTE 3] And when he died they found his body and brought it to his father. And when the father saw dead before him that son whom he loved better than himself, he was near going distraught with sorrow. And he caused an image in the similitude of his son to be wrought in gold and precious stones, and caused all his people to adore it. And they all declared him to be a G.o.d; and so they still say.

[NOTE 4]

They tell moreover that he hath died fourscore and four times. The first time he died as a man, and came to life again as an ox; and then he died as an ox and came to life again as a horse, and so on until he had died fourscore and four times; and every time he became some kind of animal.

But when he died the eighty-fourth time they say he became a G.o.d. And they do hold him for the greatest of all their G.o.ds. And they tell that the aforesaid image of him was the first idol that the Idolaters ever had; and from that have originated all the other idols. And this befel in the Island of Seilan in India.

The Idolaters come thither on pilgrimage from very long distances and with great devotion, just as Christians go to the shrine of Messer Saint James in Gallicia. And they maintain that the monument on the mountain is that of the king's son, according to the story I have been telling you; and that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish that are there were those of the same king's son, whose name was Sagamoni Borcan, or Sagamoni the Saint. But the Saracens also come thither on pilgrimage in great numbers, and _they_ say that it is the sepulchre of Adam our first father, and that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish were those of Adam.[NOTE 5]

Whose they were in truth, G.o.d knoweth; howbeit, according to the Holy Scripture of our Church, the sepulchre of Adam is not in that part of the world.

Now it befel that the Great Kaan heard how on that mountain there was the sepulchre of our first father Adam, and that some of his hair and of his teeth, and the dish from which he used to eat, were still preserved there.

So he thought he would get hold of them somehow or another, and despatched a great emba.s.sy for the purpose, in the year of Christ, 1284. The amba.s.sadors, with a great company, travelled on by sea and by land until they arrived at the island of Seilan, and presented themselves before the king. And they were so urgent with him that they succeeded in getting two of the grinder teeth, which were pa.s.sing great and thick; and they also got some of the hair, and the dish from which that personage used to eat, which is of a very beautiful green porphyry. And when the Great Kaan's amba.s.sadors had attained the object for which they had come they were greatly rejoiced, and returned to their lord. And when they drew near to the great city of Cambaluc, where the Great Kaan was staying, they sent him word that they had brought back that for which he had sent them. On learning this the Great Kaan was pa.s.sing glad, and ordered all the ecclesiastics and others to go forth to meet these reliques, which he was led to believe were those of Adam.

And why should I make a long story of it? In sooth, the whole population of Cambaluc went forth to meet those reliques, and the ecclesiastics took them over and carried them to the Great Kaan, who received them with great joy and reverence.[NOTE 6] And they find it written in their Scriptures that the virtue of that dish is such that if food for one man be put therein it shall become enough for five men: and the Great Kaan averred that he had proved the thing and found that it was really true.[NOTE 7]

So now you have heard how the Great Kaan came by those reliques; and a mighty great treasure it did cost him! The reliques being, according to the Idolaters, those of that king's son.

NOTE 1.--_Sagamoni Borcan_ is, as Marsden points out, SAKYA-MUNI, or Gautama-Buddha, with the affix BURKHAN, or "Divinity," which is used by the Mongols as the synonym of _Buddha_.

"The Dewa of Samantakuta (Adam's Peak), Samana, having heard of the arrival of Budha (in Lanka or Ceylon) ... presented a request that he would leave an impression of his foot upon the mountain of which he was guardian.... In the midst of the a.s.sembled Dewas, Budha, looking towards the East, made the impression of his foot, in length three inches less than the cubit of the carpenter; and the impression remained as a seal to show that Lanka is the inheritance of Budha, and that his religion will here flourish." (_Hardy's Manual_, p. 212.)

[Ma-Huan says (p. 212): "On landing (at Ceylon), there is to be seen on the s.h.i.+ning rock at the base of the cliff, an impress of a foot two or more feet in length. The legend attached to it is, that it is the imprint of Shakyamuni's foot, made when he landed at this place, coming from the Ts'ui-lan (Nicobar) Islands. There is a little water in the hollow of the imprint of this foot, which never evaporates. People dip their hands in it and wash their faces, and rub their eyes with it, saying: 'This is Buddha's water, which will make us pure and clean.'"--H.C.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Adam's Peak.

"Or est voir qe en ceste ysle a une montagne mont haut et si degrot de les rocches qe nul hi puent monter sus se ne en ceste mainere qe je voz dirai"....]

"The veneration with which this majestic mountain has been regarded for ages, took its rise in all probability amongst the aborigines of Ceylon.... In a later age, ... the hollow in the lofty rock that crowns the summit was said by the Brahmans to be the footstep of Siva, by the Buddhists of Buddha, ... by the Gnostics of Ieu, by the Mahometans of Adam, whilst the Portuguese authorities were divided between the conflicting claims of St. Thomas and the eunuch of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia." (_Tennent_, II. 133.)

["Near to the King's residence there is a lofty mountain reaching to the skies. On the top of this mountain there is the impress of a man's foot, which is sunk two feet deep in the rock, and is some eight or more feet long. This is said to be the impress of the foot of the ancestor of mankind, a Holy man called _A-tan_, otherwise P'an-Ku." (_Ma-Huan_, p.

213.)--H.C.]

Polo, however, says nothing of the _foot_; he speaks only of the _sepulchre_ of Adam, or of Sakya-muni. I have been unable to find any modern indication of the monument that was shown by the Mahomedans as the tomb, and sometimes as the house, of Adam; but such a structure there certainly was, perhaps an ancient _Kist-vaen_, or the like. John Marignolli, who was there about 1349, has an interesting pa.s.sage on the subject: "That exceeding high mountain hath a pinnacle of surpa.s.sing height, which on account of the clouds can rarely be seen. [The summit is lost in the clouds. (_Ibn Khordadhbeh_, p. 43.)--H.C.] But G.o.d, pitying our tears, lighted it up one morning just before the sun rose, so that we beheld it glowing with the brightest flame. [They say that a flame bursts constantly, like a lightning, from the Summit of the mountain.--(_Ibn Khordadhbeh_, p. 44.)--H.C.] In the way down from this mountain there is a fine level spot, still at a great height, and there you find in order: first, the mark of Adam's foot; secondly, a certain statue of a sitting figure, with the left hand resting on the knee, and the right hand raised and extended towards the west; lastly, there is the house (of Adam), which he made with his own hands. It is of an oblong quadrangular shape like a sepulchre, with a door in the middle, and is formed of great tabular slabs of marble, not cemented, but merely laid one upon another. (_Cathay_, 358.) A Chinese account, translated in _Amyot's Memoires_, says that at the foot of the mountain is a Monastery of Bonzes, in which is seen the veritable body of Fo, in the att.i.tude of a man lying on his side" (XIV.

25). [Ma-Huan says (p. 212): "Buddhist temples abound there. In one of them there is to be seen a full length rec.u.mbent figure of Shakyamuni, still in a very good state of preservation. The dais on which the figure reposes is inlaid with all kinds of precious stones. It is made of sandalwood and is very handsome. The temple contains a Buddha's tooth and other relics. This must certainly be the place where Shakyamuni entered Nirvana."--H.C.] Osorio, also, in his history of Emanuel of Portugal, says: "Not far from it (the Peak) people go to see a small temple in which are two sepulchres, which are the objects of an extraordinary degree of superst.i.tious devotion. For they believe that in these were buried the bodies of the first man and his wife" (f. 120 _v_.). A German traveller (_Daniel Parthey_, Nurnberg, 1698) also speaks of the tomb of Adam and his sons on the mountain. (See _Fabricius, Cod. Pseudep. Vet. Test._ II. 31; also _Ouseley's Travels_, I. 59.)