A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume I Part 39

_Itinerary of Pegoletti, between Asof and China, in_ 1355[1].

In the year 1355, Francis...o...b..lducci Pegoletti, an Italian, wrote a system of commercial geography, of great importance, considering the period in which it was written. Its t.i.tle translated into English, is, "Of the Divisions of Countries, and of their Measures, Merchandize, and other things useful to be known by the Merchants of various parts of the World."

All of this curious work which has any reference to our present undertaking, is the chapter which is ent.i.tled, "Guide or the Route from Tana to Kathay, with Merchandize, and back again." This is published entire by J. R. Forster, with several learned notes and ill.u.s.trations, and is here reprinted.

From _Tana_ or Asof to _Gintarchan_ or Astracan[2], is twenty-five days journey with waggons drawn by oxen; but may be accomplished in ten or twelve days, if the waggons are drawn by horses. On the road one meets with a great number of armed _Moccols_, Moguls or Mongals. From Gintarchan to _Sara_[3] by the river, it is only one days sail; but from Sara to _Saracanco_[4], it takes eight days by water; one may, however, travel either by land or water, whichever is most agreeable; but it costs much less expence to go with merchandize by water. From Saracanco to Organci[5]

is a journey of twenty days with loaded camels; and whoever travels with merchandize, will do well to go to Organci, as it is a very convenient place for the expeditious sale of goods. From Organci to Oltrarra[6], it is thirty-five or forty days journey, with camels: But in going direct from Saracanco to Oltrarra, it takes fifty days journey; and if one has no merchandize, it is a better way than to go by Organci. From Oltrarra to Armalecco[7], it is forty-five days journey with loaded a.s.ses, and in this road, one meets every day with Moguls. From Armalecco to Camexu[8], it is seventy days journey on a.s.ses; and from Camexu to a river called the _Kara Morin_[9], it is fifty days journey on horses. From this river, the traveller may go to Ca.s.sai[10] to dispose of his silver there, as it is an excellent station for the expeditious sale of merchandize; and from Ca.s.sai, he may go through the whole land of Gattay or Kathay, with the money he has received at Ca.s.sai for his silver[11]. This money is of paper, and called balischi, four of which balischies are equal to one silver _somno_[12].

From Ca.s.sai to _Galmalecco_[l3], which is the capital of the empire of Kathay, it is thirty days journey.

If the reader has any idea of the difficulty attendant on making out so many places, disguised by a vicious orthography, a difficulty, which is still more increased by the necessity there is for determining, with accuracy, the situation of these places, and their probable distances from each other, he will be ready to allow that the task is certainly not very trifling, nor to be accomplished without much labour. In the foregoing itinerary, Pegoletti certifies the existence of the paper money which had been previously mentioned by Rubraquis, Haitho, Marco Polo, and Oderic: Some of these authors describe it as having been fabricated of cotton paper; while others remark very justly, that it was made of the bark of the paper mulberry tree. Oderic calls it Balis, Pegoletti gives it the name of Balis-chi. A Jesuit named Gabriel de Magaillans, pretends that Marco Polo was mistaken in regard to this paper money; but the concurrent testimony of five other credible witnesses of the fact, is perfectly conclusive that this paper money did actually exist during the first Mogul dynasty, the descendants of Zinghis, called the legal tribe of _Yu_ by the Chinese. On the downfall of that race it was abolished.

Supposing the station on the Kara-morin and Ca.s.sai to be the same, which is highly probable, the whole journey in this itinerary, from Asof to Pekin, extends to 276 days, besides nine days more by water, or 285 in all; so that allowing for delays, rests, accidents, and occasional trafficking, a whole year may fairly be allowed, and as much for the return.

[1] Forster, Voy. and Disc, in the North, p. 150.

[2] Gintarchan, or Zintarchan, is, by Josaphat Barbaro, called also Gitarchau; and Witsan, in his account of Northern and Eastern Tartary, says Astracan was called of old _Citracan_. By the Calmuks, it is called Hadschi-Aidar-Khan-Balga.s.sun, or the city of Hadschi Aidar Khan, whence all these names are derived by an obvious corruption, like [Greek: Eis tnae polis], or the city, by way of eminence, by which the Greeks distinguished Constantinople, and which the Turks have corrupted into Estambol, and Stambol.--Forst.

[3] Sara is undoubtedly the town of Saray, situated on the eastern arm of the Wolga, or Achtuba. The Astracan mentioned in the text by Pegoletti, was not on the spot where that city now stands; both that ancient Astracan and Saray having been destroyed by Timur Khan, or Tamerlane, as he is usually called, in the winter 1395. The old town of Saray was at no great distance from ancient Astracan.--Forst.

[4] Saracanco is probably the town which formerly existed on the river Jaik or Ural, the remains of which are now known by the name of Saratschik.--Forst.

[5] The name of Organci is easily recognized In the town of Urgenz in Kheucaresm; which is named Dschordschanio by Abulfeda, and Korkang by the Persians. But there were two towns of this name, the greater and the lesser Urgenz, or Old and New Urgenz. The Old or Greater Urgenz was situated near to where the Gihon discharges its waters into lake Aral; the New or Ixsser Urgenz is to be found near Chiwa, or Chiva, on the Gihon--Forst.

[6] Oltrarra is properly called Otrar, and also Farab, which latter name is to be found in Abulfeda. It is situate on the river Sihon or Sire. The Chinese, who cannot p.r.o.nounce the letter _r_, call it Uotala.--Forst.

[7] Armalecco is the name of a small town called Almalig, which, according to Na.s.sir Ettusi and Ulug-beg, is in Turkestan. From the life of Timur Khan, by Shersfeddin Ali, it appears that Almalig is situate between the town of Taschkent and the river Irtiah, in the country of the Gete, and on the banks of the river Ab-eile, which discharges itself into the Sihon, or Sirr-Daria.--Forst.

[8] Came-xu is in all probability the name of Khame or Khami with the addition of xu, instead of Tcheou or Tsheu, which, in the Chinese language, signifies a town of the second rank.--Forst.

[9] Obviously the Kara-Moran, called Hoang-ho by the Chinese, or the Yellow River.--Forst.

[10] Ca.s.sai, or Kaway, seems to be the place called Kissen, on a lake of that name, near the northernmost winding branch of the Kara-moran, in Lat. 41.50'. N. long. 107. 40'. E.--Forst.

[11] It is curious to notice, in the writings, of this intelligent commercial geographer, and in the travels of Marco Polo, the peculiar advantages in commerce enjoyed by the Chinese at so early a period, of being paid in sliver for their commodities and manufactures. This practice, which prevailed so early as 1260, the era of the elder Polos, and even, in 851, when the Mahometan travellers visited Southern China, still continues in 1810.--E.

[12] The value of the silver _somno_ is nowhere mentioned; but it is of no importance, as it would not enable us to inst.i.tute any comparison of values whatsoever.--E.

[13] Gamalecco is undoubtedly Cambalu, Cambalig, or Khan-balig, otherwise Pekin; exactly as Gattay is subst.i.tuted for Katay Kathay, or Cathay.

--Forst.

CHAP. XV.

_Voyages of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno in 1380_.[1]

INTRODUCTION.

Although we have admitted this article into our collection, on the authority of Ramusio and J. R. Forster, we are disposed to consider the whole as a fabrication, altogether unworthy of any credit. The first section, indeed, may possibly have had some foundation in truth, as the Zenos may have navigated about the close of the fourteenth century to the Orkneys, and some imperfect and disfigured narrative of their voyage may have fallen into the hands of Marcolini, the author or editor of these strangely distorted and exaggerated or pretended voyages. In regard to the second section, unless we could suppose, that, by Estoitland and Drogio, some strangely distorted account of different districts in Ireland were meant to be enigmatically conveyed, the whole of that section must be p.r.o.nounced a palpable and blundering forgery. But it appears obviously intended by the relater, to impress upon his readers, that some portion of the western hemisphere, afterwards named America, had been visited by Antonio Zeno; and the high probability is, that Marcolini, a patriotic Venetian, had invented the whole story, on purpose to rob the rival republic of Genoa of the honour of haying given birth to the real discoverer of the New World. If there be any truth whatever in the voyages of the Zenos, it is only to be found in the first section of this chapter; and even there the possible truth is so strangely enveloped in unintelligible names of persons and places, as to be entirely useless. The _second_ section is utterly unworthy of the slightest serious consideration; and must either have been a posterior fabrication, engrafted upon an authentic, but ignorantly told narrative; or the seeming possibility of the _first_ section was invented to give currency to the wild forgery of the _second_. Latin books, a library, gold, s.h.i.+ps, and foreign trade, corn, beer, numerous towns and castles, all in the most northern parts of America in the _fourteenth_ century, where only nomadic savages had ever existed, are all irrefragable evidence, that the whole, or at least that portion of the voyages of the Zenos, is an idle romance. To increase the absurdity, as if to try the gullability of the readers, _Dedalus_, a king of Scotland! is a.s.sumed to have been the first discoverer of the Western World; and his son _Icarus_ is introduced to give his name to a civilized island, already named Estoitland in the narrative.

After this decided opinion of the falsehood and absurdity of the whole of this present chapter, it may be necessary to state, that, in a work so general and comprehensive as that we have undertaken, it did not seem advisable or proper to suppress an article which had been admitted into other general collections of voyages and travels. The remainder of this introduction is from the work of Mr J. R, Forster, extracted partly from Ramusio, and partly consisting of an ingenious attempt to explain and bolster up the more than dubious production of Marcolini: But these observations are here considerably abridged; as an extended, grave, and critical commentary on a narrative we believe fabulous, might appear incongruous, though it did not seem proper to omit them altogether.--E.

The family of Zeno, in Venice, was very ancient, and not only of the highest rank of n.o.bility, but celebrated for the performance of great actions, and the highest offices of the state had been filled from time immemorial by persons of the family. About the year 1200, Marin Zeno a.s.sisted in the conquest of Constantinople, and he was Podesta, or governor of that city, about 1205. He had a son named Pietro Zeno, who was father to Rinieri Zeno, who was elected doge, or Duke of Venice, in 1282, and governed the republic for seventeen years, during which period he waged a successful war against the Genoese. he adopted Andrea, the son of his brother Marco, who was afterwards raised to be captain-general of the Venetian fleet, in the war against Genoa. Rinieri Zeno, the son of Andrea, was the father of Pietro Zeno, who, in 1362, was captain-general of the Venetian squadron in the allied fleet of the Christians against the Turks, and had the surname of Dracone, from the figure of a dragon which he wore on his s.h.i.+eld. Pietro had three sons; Carlo Leone, the eldest, who was procurator and captain-general of the fleet: of the republic, and; rescued, her from imminent danger in a war in which, almost all Europe was leagued for her destruction; the second, Nicolo, called likewise il Cavaliere, or the night, shewed great valour in the last mentioned war of _Chioggia_ against the Genoese; Antonio was the youngest.

Francesco Marcolini, a learned Italia, extracted the whole of the ensuing relation from the original letters of the two Zenos, Nicole and Antonio, which is published in the collection of Ramusio; and declares that Antonio laid down all the particulars of these voyages, and of the countries he and his brother had visited, on a map, which he brought with him to Venice, and which he hung up in his house as a sure pledge and incontestible proofs of the truth of his relations, and which still remained as an incontrovertible evidence in the time of Marcolini. Many have been inclined to reject the whole of this narrative because the names which it a.s.signs to several of the countries are nowhere else to be found. After having carefully examined, and made a translation of the whole, I am fully convinced that the narrative is true, and that it contains internal proofs of its own authenticity, and I hope fully to solve, in the course of this dissertation, all the difficulties attending the names, which have been strangely perverted by a vicious orthography.

It has been alleged that the whole narrative has the appearance of a mere fable; and it may be asked where is _Friesland_ and the other countries which it mentions, to be found? Who has ever heard of a _Zichmuni_ who vanquished Kako, or Hakon, king of Norway, in 1369, or 1380? All this is very plausible; but we think a good deal may be done for clearing away the difficulties.

Marcolini extracted this relation from the original letters of the two Zenos, who were of one of the most considerable families in Venice; a family which could not be supposed to have boldly forged a story of this kind. The truth could easily have been detected, whether these brothers existed or not, and whether they ever made voyages to the north. Besides this, the map, actually constructed by Antonio, and hung up in his house at Venice, existed in the time of Marcolini, as a sure and incontestable proof of the fidelity of the narrative. How then is it possible to harbour any doubts? In this case, there must be an end of all faith in history.

I once held, that the countries described by the Zenos had been swallowed up by an earthquake; but, reflecting that so great a revolution in nature must have left some historical vestiges, or traditions, I examined the matter over again, and found that the countries described, bore a strong resemblance to the Orkneys, Shetland, Faro, and Western Islands, &c. The Zenos having represented _Porland_ as composed of a cl.u.s.ter of small islands, I suspected the other names might likewise refer to collective groups. Thus _Estland_ appeared to resemble in name the Shetland, Zetland, or Hitland Islands; and on comparing the names of _Tolas, Broas, Iscant, Trans, Mimant, Dambre_, and _Bres_, with those of Yell, Zeal or Teal, Burray or Bura, of which name there are two places, West Bura, and East Bura, and when taken collectively the Buras, Unst, Tronda, Main-land, Hamer, which is the name of a place in the mainland of Orkney, and Bra.s.sa, or Bressa, the resemblance seemed so obvious, that I no longer harboured any doubt. The land of _Sorani_, which lay over against Scotland, naturally suggested the _Suderoe_, or southern islands of the Norwegians, now called the Western Islands or Hebrides. _Ledovo_ and _Ilofe_, are the Lewis and Islay. _Sanestol_, the cl.u.s.ter of islands named _Schants-oer. Bondendon_, Pondon, or Pondon-towny in Sky. _Frisland_, is Faira or _Fera_, also called Faras-land. _Grisland_ seems Grims-ay, an island to the North of Iceland: though I would prefer Enkhuysan to the eastwards of Iceland, but as that was probably nothing more than an island of ice, we are compelled to a.s.sume Grims-ay, _Engroneland_ is obviously Greenland. _Estoitland_ must have been _Winland_, the Newfoundland of the moderns; and the Latin books may have been carried there by bishop Eric of Greenland, who went to Winland in 1121. _Drogio_ lay much farther south, and the people of _Florida_, when first discovered, had cities and temples, and possessed gold and silver.

_Icaria_ with its king _Icarus_, could be no other than Ireland[2] and perhaps the name took its origin from Kerry; and as _Icarus_ was chosen for the name of its first king and lawgiver, his father must of course be _Dedalus_ who, in all probability, was some Scottish prince, having a name of a similar sound. _Neome_ I take to be Strom-oe, one of the Faro isles, _Porland_ probably meant the Far-oer, or Faro islands; as Far-oe, or Far- land, is easily trans.m.u.ted into _Porland_.

It is true that we find no such name as _Zic.u.mni_ among the princes of the Orkneys. The race of the ancient earls of Orkney, descendants of Jarl Einar-Torf, becoming extinct, Magnus Smak, king of Norway, nominated, about 1343, Erngisel Sunason Bot, a Swedish n.o.bleman, to be Jarl or Earl of Orkney. In 1357 Malic Conda, or Mallis Sperre, claimed the earldom.

Afterwards, in 1369, Henry Sinclair put in his claim, and was nominated earl in 1370, by King Hakon. In 1375, Hakon nominated Alexander Le-Ard to be earl for a year. But Sinclair vanquished Le-Ard, and by a large sum procured the invest.i.ture from Hakon in 1379, and we know from history, that he remained earl in 1406, and was likewise possessed of Shetland. The name _Sinclair_, or _Siclair_, might easily to an Italian ear seem _Zichmni_; and as Sinclair vanquished Le-Ard, who represented the king of Norway, it was no great impropriety to say that he had beaten the king of Norway.

After these elucidations, there can be no reason left to doubt of the truth of this narrative of the Zenos which besides, as considered with relation to the geography of the north at that period, is of great importance --Forst.

[1] Ramusio. Forst. Voy. and Disc, p. 158.

[2] This is a most unlucky blunders as Icaria and Estoitland are obviously one and the same place in the narrative of Marcclini, and therefore, both must be America, or both Ireland, or both in nubibus.--E.

SECTION I

_Narrative of Nicolo Zeno_.

Nicolo Zeno, surnamed _il Cavaliere_, or the knight, had a strong desire to see distant countries, that he might become acquainted with the manners and languages of foreign nations, by which he might acquire credit and reputation, and might render himself the more useful to his country. Being a man of great property, he fitted out a s.h.i.+p with this view, at his own expence, in 1380, and sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar to the northwards, intending to visit England and Flanders. By a storm, which lasted many days, his s.h.i.+p was cast away on the coast of _Frislanda_[1].

The vessel was entirely lost, but the crew got safe on sh.o.r.e, and part of the cargo was saved. Zeno and his people were soon attacked by the natives, attracted by the hopes of a rich plunder, against whom they were hardly able, in their weary and weather-beaten state, to defend themselves; but, fortunately for them, _Zichmni_, or Sinclair, the reigning prince or lord of _Porlanda_[2], who happened to be then in _Frislanda_, and heard of their s.h.i.+pwreck, came in all haste to their relief, of which they stood in great need. After discoursing with them for some time in Latin, he took them under his protection; and finding Nicolo Zeno very expert, both in naval and military affairs, he gave him, after some time, the post of admiral of his fleet, which Nicolo for some time refused, but at length accepted.

Not long afterwards, Nicola wrote an account of these circ.u.mstances to his brother Antonio, inviting him to come to _Frislanda_; who accordingly soon arrived there, and lived four years along with Nicolo in that country; and remained ten years in the service of _Zichmni_, or Sinclair, the prince of that country, after the death of his brother Nicolo.

Nicolo Zeno having been s.h.i.+pwrecked in 13SO, on the island of _Frislanda_, and saved by prince _Zichmni_ from the rude attacks of the natives, put himself and all his people under the protection of this prince, who was lord of certain islands lying to the south of _Frislanda_, which were called _Porlanda_, and were the most fertile and most populous of all the islands in those parts. _Zichmni_, or Sinclair, was besides this duke of _Sorany_[3], a place which lies on one side of Scotland. Of these northern parts, I, Antonio Zeno, have constructed a map, which hangs up in my house; and which, though it be much decayed by time, may serve to give some information to the curious.

_Zichmni_ the lord of all these countries, was a man of great courages and famous for his skill in navigation. The year before the arrival of Nicolo Zeno, he had defeated the king of Norway in a pitched battle, and was now come with his forces to conquer _Frislandia_, which is much larger than Iceland. On account of the knowledge of Nicolo Zeno in maritime affairs, the prince took him and all his crew on board his fleet, and gave orders to his admiral to treat him with the highest respect, and to take his advice in every affair of importance.

_Zichmni_ had a fleet consisting of thirteen vessels, two of which only were galleys, the rest being small barks, and only one of the whole was a s.h.i.+p[4]. With all these they sailed to the westward, and without much difficulty made themselves masters of _Ledovo_ and _Ilofe_[5], and several other smaller islands and turning into a bay called _Sudero_, in the haven of the town of _Sanestol_[6] they took several small barks laden with fish[7]; and here they found _Zichmni_ who came by land with his army, conquering all the country as he went. They stayed here but a short time, and then shaped their course to the westwards, till they came to the other cape of the gulf or bay, and here turning again, they found certain islands and broken lands, all of which they brought under subjection to _Zichmni_, or Sinclair. These seas were all full of shoals and rocks, insomuch that if Nicolo Zeno and the Venetian mariners had not acted as pilots, the whole feet, in the opinion of all who were in it, must have been lost; so small was the skill of their people in comparison with ours, who had been trained up in the art and practice of navigation from their childhood. After the proceedings already mentioned, the admiral, by the advice of Nicolo Zeno, determined to make for the sh.o.r.e, at a town called _Bondendon_[8], with a view to get intelligence of the success which _Zichmni_ had met with in the prosecution of the war on land. They here learned, to their great satisfaction, that he had fought a great battle, in which he had put the army of the enemy to flight; and in consequence of this intelligence, the inhabitants sent amba.s.sadors from all parts of the island, agreeing to yield the country to his pleasure, and took down their flags and ensigns in every town and castle. It was therefore thought advisable to remain at _Bondendan_ for his arrival, as they had received reports that he would certainly be there in a short time. On his arrival there were great congratulations and rejoicings, as well for the victory obtained by land as for the success of the naval expedition; and the Venetians were much honoured and extolled for their skill, every tongue being loud in their praises, and Nicolo Zeno was much applauded for his prowess. The prince caused Nicolo to be brought into his presence, and bestowed high commendations for the skill he had exerted in saving the fleet, and for the great valour he had displayed in the taking of many towns, where indeed there was no great difficulty or opposition; in reward for which he bestowed upon him the honour of knighthood, and distributed rich and liberal presents among his followers. Departing from _Bondendon_, the fleet returned in triumph to _Frislanda_, the chief city of which is situated on the south-east side of the island within a gulf, of which there are many in that island. In this gulf or bay, there are such vast quant.i.ties of fish taken, that many s.h.i.+ps are yearly laden thence to supply Flanders, Britannia[9], England, Scotland, Norway, and Denmark; and the produce of this fis.h.i.+ng brings great riches into the country.

The foregoing circ.u.mstances were contained in a letter sent by Nicolo Zeno to his brother Antonio, in which he invited him to come to _Frislanda_; and accordingly the latter set sail for this purpose, and, having surmounted many dangers, safely joined his brother in that far distant country.