The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 109

APPENDIX L.--_Sundry Supplementary Notes on Special Subjects_.--(H.C.)

1.--_The Polos at Acre_.

2.--_Sorcery in Kashmir_.

3.--PAONANO PAO.

4.--_Pamir_.

5.--_Number of Pamirs_.

6.--_Site of Pein_.

7.--_Fire-arms_.

8.--_La Couvade_.

9.--_Alacan_.

10.--_Champa_.

11.--_Ruck Quills_.

12.--_A Spanish Edition of Marco Polo_.

13.--_Sir John Mandeville_.

1.--THE POLOS AT ACRE. (Vol. i. p. 19. _Int._)

M. le Comte Riant (_Itin. a Jerusalem_, p. xxix.) from various data thinks the two sojourns of the Polos at Acre must have been between the 9th May, 1271, date of the arrival of Edward of England and of Tedaldo Visconti, and the 18th November, 1271, time of the departure of Tedaldo.

Tedaldo was still in Paris on the 28th December, 1269, and he appears to have left for the Holy Land after the departure of S. Lewis for Tunis (2nd July, 1270).--H.C.

2.--SORCERY IN KASHMIR. (Vol. i. p. 166.)

In _Kalhanda's Rajatarangini, A Chronicle of the Kings of Kasmir translated by M.A. Stein_, we read (Bk. IV. 94, p. 128): "Again the Brahman's wife addressed him: 'O king, as he is famous for his knowledge of charms (_Kharkhodavidya_), he can get over an ordeal with ease.'" Dr.

Stein adds the following note: "The practice of witchcraft and the belief in its efficiency have prevailed in Kasmir from early times, and have survived to some extent to the present day; comp. _Buhler, Report_, p.

24.... The term _Kharkhoda_, in the sense of a kind of deadly charm or witchcraft, recurs in v. 239, and is found also in the _Vijayesvaramah_ (Adipur.), xi. 25. In the form _Kharkota_ it is quoted by the _N. P.W._ from _Caraka_, vi. 23. _Kharkhota_ appears as the designation of a sorcerer or another kind of uncanny persons in _Haracar_., ii. 125, along with Krtyas and Vetalas...."

3.--PAONANO PAO. (Vol. i. p. 173.)

In his paper on _Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythians' Coins_ (_Babylonian and Oriental Record_, August, 1887, pp. 155-166; rep. in the _Indian Antiquary_, 1888), Dr. M.A. Stein has demonstrated that the legend PAONANO PAO on the coins of the Yue-Chi or Indo-Scythian Kings (Kanishka, Huvishka, Vasudeva), is the exact transcription of the old Iranian t.i.tle _Shahanan Shah_ (Persian _Shahan-shah_), "King of Kings"; the letter P, formerly read as P(_r_), has since been generally recognised, in accordance with his interpretation as a distinct character expressing the sound _sh_.

4.--PAMIR. (Vol. i. pp. 174-175.)

I was very pleased to find that my itinerary agrees with that of Dr. M.A.

Stein; this learned traveller sends me the following remarks: "The remark about the absence of birds (pp. 174-175) _might_ be a reflex of the very ancient legend (based probably on the name zend _Upairi-saena_, pehlevi _Aparsin_, 'higher than the birds') which represents the _Hindu Kush_ range proper as too high for birds to fly over. The legend can be traced by successive evidence in the case of the range north of Kabul."-- Regarding the route (p. 175) from the _Wakhjir_ (sic) Pa.s.s down the Taghdum-bash Pamir, then via Tash-kurghan, Little Karakul, Bulun Kul, Gez Daria to Tashmalik and Kashgar, Dr. Stein says that he surveyed it in July, 1900, and he refers for the correct phonetic spelling of local names along it to his map to be published in _J.R.G.S._, in December, 1902.

He says in his _Prel. Report_, p. 10: "The _Wakhjir_ Pa.s.s, only some 12 miles to the south-west of _Kok-torok_, connects the Taghdumbash Pamir and the Sarikol Valleys with the head-waters of the Oxus. So I was glad that the short halt, which was unavoidable for survey purposes, permitted me to move a light camp close to the summit of the Wakhjir Pa.s.s (circ. 16,200 feet). On the following day, 2nd July, I visited the head of _Ab-i-Panja_ Valley, near the great glaciers which Lord Curzon first demonstrated to be the true source of the River Oxus. It was a strange sensation for me in this desolate mountain waste to know that I had reached at last the eastern threshold of that distant region, including Bactria and the Upper Oxus Valley, which as a field of exploration had attracted me long before I set foot in India. Notwithstanding its great elevation, the Wakhjir Pa.s.s and its approaches both from west and east are comparatively easy.

Comparing the topographical facts with Hiuen-Tsiang's account in the _Si yu-ki_, I am led to conclude that the route followed by the great Chinese Pilgrim, when travelling about A.D. 649 from Badakshan towards Khotan, through 'the valley of Po-mi-lo (Pamir)' into Sarikol, actually traversed this Pa.s.s."

Dr. Stein adds in his notes to me that "Marco Polo's description of the forty days' journey to the E.N.E. of _Vokhan_ as _through tracts of wilderness_ can well be appreciated by any one who has pa.s.sed through the Pamir Region, in the direction of the valleys W. and N. of Muztagh Ata.

After leaving Tashkurghan and Tagharma, where there is some precarious cultivation, there is no local produce to be obtained until the oasis of Tashmalik is reached in the open Kashgar plains. In the narrow valley of the Yamanyar River (Gez Defile) there is scarcely any grazing; its appearance is far more desolate than that of the elevated Pamirs."--"Marco Polo's praise (p. 181) of the gardens and vine-yards of Kashgar is well deserved; also the remark about the trading enterprise of its merchants still holds good, if judged by the standard of Chinese Turkestan. Kashgar traders visit Khotan far more frequently than _vice versa_. It is strange that no certain remains of Nestorian wors.h.i.+p can be traced now."--"My impression [Dr. Stein's] of the people of the Khotan oasis (p. 188) was that they are certainly a meeker and more docile race than e.g. the average 'Kashgarlik' or Yarkandi. The very small number of the Chinese garrison of the districts Khotan and Keria (only about 200 men) bears out this impression."

We may refer for the ancient sites, history, etc., of Khotan to the _Preliminary Report_ of Dr. Stein and to his paper in the _Geographical Journal_ for December, 1902, actually in the press.

5.--NUMBER OF PAMIRS. (Vol. i. p. 176.)

Lord Curzon gives the following list of the "eight claimants to the distinction and t.i.tle of a Pamir": (1) Taghdumbash, or Supreme Head of the Mountains Pamir, lying immediately below and to the north of the Kilik Pa.s.s. (2) The Pamir-i-Wakhan. (3) The Pamir-i-Khurd, or Little Pamir. (4) The Pamir-i-Kalan, or Great Pamir. (5) The Alichur Pamir. (6) The Sarez Pamir. (7) The Rang Kul Pamir. (8) The Khargosh or Hare Pamir, which contains the basin of the Great Kara Kul. See this most valuable paper, _The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus_, reprinted from the _Geographical Journal_ of 1896, in 1896, 1898, and 1899.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Some of the objects found by Dr. M.A. Stein in Central Asia.]

6.--PEIN. (Vol. i. p. 192.)

Dr. M.A. Stein, of the Indian Educational Service, appears to have exactly identified the site of Pein, during his recent archaeological researches in Central Asia; he writes (_Prel. Report on a Journey of Archaeological and Topog. Exploration in Chinese Turkestan_, Lond., 1901, pp. 58-59): "Various antiquarian and topographical considerations made me anxious to identify the position of the town of _Pi-mo_, which Hiuen-Tsiang describes as some 300 _li_ to the east of the Khotan capital.

It was probably the same place as the _Pein_, visited by Marco Polo. After marching back along the Keriya River for four days, I struck to the south-west, and, after three more marches, arrived in the vicinity of Lachin-Ata Mazar, a desolate little shrine in the desert to the north of the Khotan-Keriya route. Though our search was rendered difficult by the insufficiency of guides and the want of water, I succeeded during the following few days in tracing the extensive ruined site which previous information had led me to look for in that vicinity. 'Uzun-Tati' ('the distant Tati,') as the _debris_-covered area is locally designated, corresponds in its position and the character of its remains exactly to the description of Pi-mo. Owing to far-advanced erosion and the destruction dealt by treasure-seekers, the structural remains are very scanty indeed.

But the _debris_, including bits of gla.s.s, pottery, china, small objects in bra.s.s and stone, etc., is plentiful enough, and in conjunction with the late Chinese coins found here, leaves no doubt as to the site having been occupied up to the Middle Ages."

Our itinerary should therefore run from Khotan to Uzun Tati, and thence to Nia, leaving Kiria to the south; indeed Kiria is _not_ an ancient place.--H.C.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARCO POLO'S ITINERARY CORRECTED]

Mr. E.J. Rapson, of the British Museum, with the kind permission of Dr.

Stein, has sent me a photograph (which we reproduce) of coins and miscellaneous objects found at Uzun Tati. Coin (1) bears the _nien-hao_ (t.i.tle of reign) _Pao Yuen_ (1038-1040) of the Emperor Jen Tsung, of the Sung Dynasty; Coin (2) bears the _nien-hao_, _K'ien Yuen_ (758-760) of the Emperor Su Tsung of the T'ang Dynasty; Coin (3) is of the time of the Khan of Turkestan, Muhammad Arslan Khan, about 441 A.H. = 1049 A.D. From the description sent to me by Mr. Rapson and written by Mr. Andrews, I note that the miscellaneous objects include: "Two fragments of fine Chinese porcelain, highly glazed and painted with Chinese ornament in blue. That on the left is painted on both sides, and appears to be portion of rim of a bowl. Thickness 3/32 of an inch. That to the right is slightly coa.r.s.er, and is probably portion of a larger vessel. Thickness 1/4 inch (nearly). A third fragment of porcelain, shown at bottom of photo, is decorated roughly in a neutral brown colour, which has imperfectly 'fluxed.' It, also, appears to be Chinese. Thickness 1/8 inch (nearly).--A bra.s.s or bronze object, cast. Probably portion of a clasp or buckle.--A bra.s.s finger ring containing a piece of mottled green gla.s.s held loosely in place by a turned-over denticulated rim. The metal is very thin."--H.C.

7.--FIRE-ARMS. (Vol. i. p. 342.)

From a paper on _Siam's Intercourse with China_, published by Lieutenant-Colonel Gerini in the _Asiatic Quarterly Review_ for October, 1902, it would appear that fire-arms were mentioned for the first time in Siamese Records during the Lau invasion and the siege of Sw.a.n.khalok (from 1085 to 1097 A.D.); it is too early a date for the introduction of fire-arms, though it would look "much more like an anachronism were the advent of these implements of warfare [were] placed, in blind reliance upon the _Northern Chronicles_, still a few centuries back. The most curious of it all is, however, the statement as to the weapons in question having been introduced into the country from China." Following W.F. Mayers in his valuable contributions to the _Jour. North-China B.R.A.S._, 1869-1870, Colonel Gerini, who, of course, did not know of Dr. Schlegel's paper, adds: "It was not until the reign of the Emperor Yung Le, and on occasion of the invasion of Tonkin in A.D. 1407, that the Chinese acquired the knowledge of the propulsive effect of gunpowder, from their vanquished enemies."

8.--LA COUVADE. (Vol. ii. p. 91.)

Mr. H. Ling Roth has given an interesting paper ent.i.tled _On the Signification of Couvade_, in the _Journ. Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, XXII. 1893, pp. 204-243. He writes (pp. 221-222):--"From this survey it would seem in the first place that we want a great deal more information about the custom in the widely isolated cases where it has been reported, and secondly, that the authenticity of some of the reported cases is doubtful in consequence of authors repeating their predecessors' tales, as Colquhoun did Marco Polo's, and V. der Haart did Schouten's. I should not be at all surprised if ultimately both Polo's and Schouten's accounts turned out to be myths, both these travellers making their records at a time when the Old World was full of the tales of the New, so that in the end, we may yet find the custom is not, nor ever has been, so widespread as is generally supposed to have been the case."

I do not very well see how Polo, in the 13th and 14th centuries could make his _record at a time when the Old World was full of the tales of the New_, discovered at the end of the 15th century! Unless Mr. Ling Roth supposes the Venetian Traveller acquainted with the various theories of the Pre-Columbian discovery of America!!

9.--ALACAN. (Vol. ii. pp. 255 and 261.)

Dr. G. Schlegel writes, in the _T'oung Pao_ (May, 1898, p. 153): "_Abakan_ or _Abachan_ ought to be written _Alahan_. His name is written by the Chinese _Ats'zehan_ and by the j.a.panese _Asikan_; but this is because they have both confounded the character _lah_ with the character _ts'ze_; the old sound of [the last] character [of the name] was _kan_ and is always used by the Chinese when wanting to transcribe the t.i.tle _Khan_ or _Chan_.

Marco Polo's A_b_acan is a clerical error for A_l_acan."

10.--CHAMPA. (Vol. ii. p. 268.)

In Ma Huan's account of the Kingdom of Siam, transl. by Mr. Phillips (_Jour. China B.R.A.S._, XXI. 1886, pp. 35-36) we read: "Their marriage ceremonies are as follows:--They first invite the priest to conduct the bridegroom to the bride's house, and on arrival there the priest exacts the 'droit seigneurial,' and then she is introduced to the bridegroom."

11.--RUCK QUILLS. (Vol. ii. p. 421.)

Regarding Ruck Quills, Sir H. Yule wrote in the _Academy_, 22nd March, 1884, pp. 204-405:--

"I suggested that this might possibly have been some vegetable production, such as a great frond of the Ravenala (_Urania speciosa_) cooked to pa.s.s as a ruc's quill. (_Marco Polo_, first edition, ii. 354; second edition, ii. 414.) Mr. Sibree, in his excellent book on Madagascar (_The Great African Island_, 1880) noticed this, but said: