BOOK FIRST.

ACCOUNT OF REGIONS VISITED OR HEARD OF ON THE JOURNEY FROM THE LESSER ARMENIA TO THE COURT OF THE GREAT KAAN AT CHANDU.

BOOK I.

VI., p. 63. “There is also on the river, as you go from Baudas to Kisi, a great city called Bastra, surrounded by woods, in which grow the best dates in the world.”

“The products of the country are camels, sheep and dates.” (At Pi-ssï-lo, Basra. Chau Ju-kwa, p. 137.)

VI., pp. 63, 65. “In Baudas they weave many different kinds of silk stuffs and gold brocades, such as nasich, and nac, and cramoisy, and many other beautiful tissue richly wrought with figures of beasts and birds.”

In the French text we have nassit and nac.

“S’il faut en croire M. Defrémery, au lieu de nassit, il faut évidemment lire nassij (nécidj), ce qui signifie un tissu, en général, et désigne particulièrement une étoffe de soie de la même espèce que le nekh. Quant aux étoffes sur lesquelles étaient figurés des animaux et des oiseaux, le même orientaliste croit qu’il faut y reconnaître le thardwehch, sorte d’étoffe de soie qui, comme son nom l’indique, représentait des scènes de chasse. On sait que l’usage de ces représentations est très ancien en Orient, comme on le voit dans des passages de Philostrate et de Quinte-Curce rapportés par Mongez.” (Francisque-Michel, Recherches sur le Commerce, I., p. 262.)

VI., p. 67.

DEATH OF MOSTAS’IM.

According to Al-Fakhri, translated by E. Amar (Archives marocaines, XVI., p. 579), Mostas’im was put to death with his two eldest sons on the 4th of safar, 656 (3rd February, 1258).

XI., p. 75. “The [the men of Tauris] weave many kinds of beautiful and valuable stuffs of silk and gold.”

Francisque-Michel (I., p. 316) remarks: “De ce que Marco Polo se borne à nommer Tauris comme la ville de Perse où il se fabriquait maints draps d’or et de soie, il ne faudrait pas en conclure que cette industrie n’existât pas sur d’autres points du même royaume. Pour n’en citer qu’un seul, la ville d’Arsacie, ancienne capitale des Parthes, connue aujourd’hui sous le nom de Caswin, possédait vraisemblablement déjà cette industrie des beaux draps d’or et de soie qui existait encore au temps de Huet, c’est-à-dire au XVII^e siècle.”

XIII., p. 78. “Messer Marco Polo found a village there which goes by the name of Cala Ataperistan, which is as much as to say, ‘The Castle of the Fire-worshippers.’”

With regard to Kal’ah-i Atashparastān, Prof. A. V. W. Jackson writes (Persia, 1906, p. 413): “And the name is rightly applied, for the people there do worship fire. In an article entitled The Magi in Marco Polo (Journ. Am. Or. Soc., 26, 79–83) I have given various reasons for identifying the so-called ‘Castle of the Fire-Worshippers’ with Kashan, which Odoric mentions or a village in its vicinity, the only rival to the claim being the town of Naïn, whose Gabar Castle has already been mentioned above.”

XIV., p. 78.

PERSIA.

Speaking of Saba and of Cala Ataperistan, Prof. E. H. Parker (Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 134) has the following remarks: “It is not impossible that certain unexplained statements in the Chinese records may shed light upon this obscure subject. In describing the Arab Conquest of Persia, the Old and New T’ang Histories mention the city of Hia-lah as being amongst those captured; another name for it was Sam (according to the Chinese initial and final system of spelling words). A later Chinese poet has left the following curious line on record: ‘All the priests venerate Hia-lah.’ The allusion is vague and undated, but it is difficult to imagine to what else it can refer. The term sêng, or ‘bonze,’ here translated ‘priests,’ was frequently applied to Nestorian and Persian priests, as in this case.”

XIV., p. 80. “Three Kings.”

Regarding the legend of the stone cast into a well, cf. F. W. K. Müller, Uigurica, pp. 5–10 (Pelliot).

XVII., p. 90. “There are also plenty of veins of steel and Ondanique.”

“The ondanique which Marco Polo mentions in his 42nd chapter is almost certainly the pin t’ieh or ‘pin iron’ of the Chinese, who frequently mention it as coming from Arabia, Persia, Cophene, Hami, Ouigour-land and other High Asia States.” (E. H. Parker, Journ. North China Br. Roy. Asiatic Soc., XXXVIII., 1907, p. 225.)

XVIII., pp. 97, 100. “The province that we now enter is called Reobarles.... The beasts also are peculiar.... Then there are sheep here as big as asses; and their tails are so large and fat, that one tail shall weight some 30 lbs. They are fine fat beasts, and afford capital mutton.”

Prof. E. H. Parker writes in the Journ. of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Soc., XXXVII., 1906, p. 196: “Touching the fat-tailed sheep of Persia, the Shan-haï-king says the Yuëh-chï or Indo-Scythy had a ‘big-tailed sheep,’ the correct name for which is hien-yang. The Sung History mentions sheep at Hami with tails so heavy that they could not walk. In the year 1010 some were sent as tribute to China by the King of Kuché.”

“Among the native products [at Mu lan p’i, Murābit, Southern Coast of Spain] are foreign sheep, which are several feet high and have tails as big as a fan. In the spring-time they slit open their bellies and take out some tens of catties of fat, after which they sew them up again, and the sheep live on; if the fat were not removed, (the animal) would swell up and die.” (Chau Ju-kwa, pp. 142–3.)

“The Chinese of the T’ang period had heard also of the trucks put under these sheep’s tails. ‘The Ta-shï have a foreign breed of sheep (hu-yang) whose tails, covered with fine wool, weigh from ten to twenty catties; the people have to put carts under them to hold them up. Fan-kuo-chï as quoted in Tung-si-yang-k’au.” (Hirth and Rockhill, p. 143.)

Leo Africanus, Historie of Africa, III., 945 (Hakluyt Soc. ed.), says he saw in Egypt a ram with a tail weighing eighty pounds!:

OF THE AFRICAN RAMME.

“There is no difference betweene these rammes of Africa and others, saue onely in their tailes, which are of a great thicknes, being by so much the grosser, but how much they are more fatte, so that some of their tailes waigh tenne, and other twentie pounds a peece, and they become fatte of their owne naturall inclination: but in Egypt there are diuers that feede them fatte with bran and barly, vntill their tailes growe so bigge that they cannot remooue themselves from place to place: insomuch that those which take charge of them are faine to binde little carts vnder their tailes, to the end they may haue strength to walke. I my selfe saw at a citie in Egypt called Asiot, and standing vpon Nilus, about an hundred and fiftie miles from Cairo, one of the saide rams tailes that weighed fowerscore pounds, and others affirmed that they had seene one of those tailes of an hundred and fiftie pounds weight. All the fatte therefore of this beast consisteth in his taile; neither is there any of them to be founde but onely in Tunis and in Egypt.” (Leo Africanus, edited by Dr. Robert Brown, III., 1896, Hakluyt Society, p. 945.)

XVIII., pp. 97, 100 n.

Dr. B. Laufer draws my attention to what is probably the oldest mention of this sheep from Arabia, in Herodotus, Book III., Chap. 113:

“Concerning the spices of Arabia let no more be said. The whole country is scented with them, and exhales an odour marvellously sweet. There are also in Arabia two kinds of sheep worthy of admiration, the like of which is nowhere else to be seen; the one kind has long tails, not less than three cubits in length, which, if they were allowed to trail on the ground, would be bruised and fall into sores. As it is, all the shepherds know enough of carpentering to make little trucks for their sheep’s tails. The trucks are placed under the tails, each sheep having one to himself, and the tails are then tied down upon them. The other kind has a broad tail, which is a cubit across sometimes.”

Canon G. Rawlinson, in his edition of Herodotus, has the following note on this subject (II., p. 500):—

“Sheep of this character have acquired among our writers the name of Cape Sheep, from the fact that they are the species chiefly affected by our settlers at the Cape of Good Hope. They are common in Africa and throughout the East, being found not only in Arabia, but in Persia, Syria, Affghanistan, Egypt, Barbary, and even Asia Minor. A recent traveller, writing from Smyrna, says: ‘The sheep of the country are the Cape sheep, having a kind of apron tail, entirely of rich marrowy fat, extending to the width of their hind quarters, and frequently trailing on the ground; the weight of the tail is often more than six or eight pounds’ (Fellows’s Asia Minor, p. 10). Leo Africanus, writing in the 15th century, regards the broad tail as the great difference between the sheep of Africa and that of Europe. He declares that one which he had seen in Egypt weighed 80 lbs. He also mentions the use of trucks which is still common in North Africa.”

XVIII., p. 98. “Camadi.—Reobarles.—In this plain there are a number of villages and towns which have lofty walls of mud, made as a defence against the banditti, who are very numerous, and are called Caraonas. This name is given them because they are the sons of Indian mothers by Tartar fathers.”

Mirzá Haïdar writes (Tárikh-i-Rashidi, p. 148): “The learned Mirzá Ulugh Beg has written a history which he has called Ulus Arbaa. One of the ‘four hordes’ is that of the Moghul, who are divided into two branches, the Moghul and the Chaghatái. But these two branches, on account of their mutual enmity, used to call each other by a special name, by way of depreciation. Thus the Chaghatái called the Moghul Jatah, while the Moghul called the Chaghatái Karáwánás.”

Cf. Ney Elias, l.c., pp. 76–77, and App. B, pp. 491–2, containing an inquiry made in Khorasán by Mr. Maula Bakhsh, Attaché at the Meshed Consulate General, of the families of Kárnás, he has heard or seen; he says: “These people speak Turki now, and are considered part of the Goklán Turkomans. They, however, say they are Chingiz-Kháni Moghuls, and are no doubt the descendants of the same Kárnás, or Karávanás, who took such a prominent part in the victories in Persia.

“The word Kárnás, I was told by a learned Goklan Mullah, means Tirandáz, or Shikári (i.e. Archer or Hunter), and was applied to this tribe of Moghuls on account of their professional skill in shooting, which apparently secured them an important place in the army. In Turki the word Kárnás means Shikamparast—literally, ‘belly worshippers,’ which implies avarice. This term is in use at present, and I was told, by a Kázi of Bujnurd, that it is sometimes used by way of reproach.... The Kárnás people in Mána and Gurgán say it is the name of their tribe, and they can give no other explanation.”

XVIII., pp. 98, 102, 165. “The King of these scoundrels is called Nogodar.”

Sir Aurel Stein has the following regarding the route taken by this Chief in Serindia, I., pp. 11–12:—

“To revert to an earlier period it is noteworthy that the route in Marco Polo’s account, by which the Mongol partisan leader Nigūdar, ‘with a great body of horsemen, cruel unscrupulous fellows,’ made his way from Badakhshān ‘through another province called Pashai-Dir, and then through another called Ariora-Keshemur’ to India, must have led down the Bashgol Valley. The name of Pashai clearly refers to the Kāfirs among whom this tribal designation exists to this day, while the mention of Dīr indicates the direction which this remarkable inroad had taken. That its further progress must have lain through Swāt is made probable by the name which, in Marco Polo’s account, precedes that of ‘Keshemur’ or Kashmīr; for in the hitherto unexplained Ariora can be recognized, I believe, the present Agrōr, the name of the well-known hill-tract on the Hazāra border which faces Bunēr from the left bank of the Indus. It is easy to see from any accurate map of these regions, that for a mobile column of horsemen forcing its way from Badakhshān to Kashmīr, the route leading through the Bashgol Valley, Dīr, Talāsh, Swāt, Bunēr, Agrōr, and up the Jhelam Valley, would form at the present day, too, the most direct and practicable line of invasion.”

In a paper on Marco Polo’s Account of a Mongol inroad into Kashmir (Geog. Jour., August, 1919), Sir Aurel Stein reverts again to the same subject. “These [Mongol] inroads appear to have commenced from about 1260 A.D., and to have continued right through the reign of Ghiasuddin, Sultan of Delhi (1266–1286), whose identity with Marco’s Asedin Soldan is certain. It appears very probable that Marco’s story of Nogodar, the nephew of Chaghatái, relates to one of the earliest of these incursions which was recent history when the Poli passed through Persia about 1272–73 A.D.”

Stein thinks, with Marsden and Yule, that Dilivar (pp. 99, 105) is really a misunderstanding of “Città di Livar” for Lahawar or Lahore.

Dir has been dealt with by Yule and Pauthier, and we know that it is “the mountain tract at the head of the western branch of the Panjkora River, through which leads the most frequented route from Peshawar and the lower Swāt valley to Chītral” (Stein, l.c.). Now with regard to the situation of Pashai (p. 104):

“It is clear that a safe identification of the territory intended cannot be based upon such characteristics of its people as Marco Polo’s account here notes obviously from hearsay, but must reckon in the first place with the plainly stated bearing and distance. And Sir Henry Yule’s difficulty arose just from the fact that what the information accessible to him seemed to show about the location of the name Pashai could not be satisfactorily reconciled with those plain topographical data. Marco’s great commentator, thoroughly familiar as he was with whatever was known in his time about the geography of the western Hindukush and the regions between Oxus and Indus, could not fail to recognize the obvious connection between our Pashai and the tribal name Pashai borne by Muhammanized Kafirs who are repeatedly mentioned in mediæval and modern accounts of Kabul territory. But all these accounts seemed to place the Pashais in the vicinity of the great Panjshir valley, north-east of Kabul, through which passes one of the best-known routes from the Afghan capital to the Hindukush watershed and thence to the Middle Oxus. Panjshir, like Kabul itself, lies to the south-west of Badakshān, and it is just this discrepancy of bearing together with one in the distance reckoned to Kashmir which caused Sir Henry Yule to give expression to doubts when summing up his views about Nogodar’s route.”

From Sir George Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India we learn that to the south of the range of the Hindukush “the languages spoken from Kashmir in the east to Kafiristan in the west are neither of Indian nor of Iranian origin, but form a third branch of the Aryan stock of the great Indo-European language family. Among the languages of this branch, now rightly designated as ‘Dardic,’ the Kafir group holds a very prominent place. In the Kafir group again we find the Pashai language spoken over a very considerable area. The map accompanying Sir George Grierson’s monograph on ‘The Pisaca Languages of North-Western India’ [Asiatic Society Monographs, VIII., 1906], shows Pashai as the language spoken along the right bank of the Kunar river as far as the Asmar tract as well as in the side valleys which from the north descend towards it and the Kabul river further west. This important fact makes it certain that the tribal designation of Pashai, to which this Kafir language owes its name, has to this day an application extending much further east than was indicated by the references which travellers, mediæval and modern, along the Panjshir route have made to the Pashais and from which alone this ethnic name was previously known.”

Stein comes to the conclusion that “the Mongols’ route led across the Mandal Pass into the great Kafir valley of Bashgol and thus down to Arnawai on the Kunar. Thence Dir could be gained directly across the Zakhanna Pass, a single day’s march. There were alternative routes, too, available to the same destination either by ascending the Kunar to Ashreth and taking the present ‘Chitral Road’ across the Lowarai, or descending the river to Asmar and crossing the Binshi Pass.”

From Dir towards Kashmir for a large body of horsemen “the easiest and in matter of time nearest route must have led them as now down the Panjkora Valley and beyond through the open tracts of Lower Swāt and Buner to the Indus about Amb. From there it was easy through the open northern part of the present Hazara District (the ancient Urasa) to gain the valley of the Jhelam River at its sharp bend near Muzzaffarabad.”

The name of Agror (the direct phonetic derivative of the Sanskrit Atyugrapura) = Ariora; it is the name of the hill-tract on the Hazara border which faces Buner on the east from across the left bank of the Indus.

XVIII., p. 101.

Line 17, Note 4. Korano of the Indo-Scythic Coins is to be read Košano. (Pelliot.)

XVIII., p. 102.

On the Mongols of Afghanistān, see Ramstedt, Mogholica, in Journ. de la Soc. Finno-Ougrienne, XXIII., 1905. (Pelliot.)

XIX., p. 107. “The King is called Ruomedan Ahomet.”

About 1060, Mohammed I. Dirhem Kub, from Yemen, became master of Hormuz, but his successors remained in the dependency of the sovereigns of Kermán until 1249, when Rokn ed-Din Mahmud III. Kalhaty (1242–1277) became independent. His successors in Polo’s time were Seïf ed-Din Nusrat (1277–1290), Mas’ud (1290–1293), Beha ed-Din Ayaz Seyfin (1293–1311).

XIX., p. 115.

HORMOS.

The Travels of Pedro Teixeira, a Portuguese traveller, probably of Jewish origin, certainly not a Jesuit, have been published by the Hakluyt Society:

The Travels of Pedro Teixeira; with his “Kings of Harmuz,” and extracts from his “King of Persia.” Translated and annotated by William F. Sinclair, Bombay Civil Service (Rtd.); With further Notes and an Introduction by Donald Ferguson, London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society, MDCCCCII, 8 vo. pp. cvii–292.

See Appendix A. A Short Narrative of the Origin of the Kingdom of Harmusz, and of its Kings, down to its Conquest by the Portuguese; extracted from its History, written by Torunxa, King of the Same, pp. 153–195. App. D. Relation of the Chronicle of the Kings of Ormuz, taken from a Chronicle composed by a King of the same Kingdom, named Pachaturunza, written in Arabic, and summarily translated into the Portuguese language by a friar of the order of Saint Dominick, who founded in the island of Ormuz a house of his order, pp. 256–267.

See Yule, Hobson-Jobson, s.v. Ormus.

Mr. Donald Ferguson, in a note, p. 155, says: “No dates are given in connection with the first eleven rulers of Hormuz; but assuming as correct the date (1278) given for the death of the twelfth, and allowing to each of his predecessors an average reign of thirteen years, the foundation of the kingdom of Hormuz would fall in A.D. 1100. Yule places the founding somewhat earlier; and Valentyn, on what authority I know not, gives A.D. 700 as the date of the founder Muhammad.”

XIX., I., p. 116; II., p. 444.

DIET OF THE GULF PEOPLE.

Prof. E. H. Parker says that the T’ang History, in treating of the Arab conquests of Fuh-lin [or Frank] territory, alludes to the “date and dry fish diet of the Gulf people.” The exact Chinese words are: “They feed their horses on dried fish, and themselves subsist on the hu-mang, or Persian date, as Bretschneider has explained.” (Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 134.)

Bretschneider, in Med. Researches, II., p. 134, n. 873, with regard to the dates writes: “Wan nien tsao, ‘ten thousand years’ jujubes’; called also Po-sze tao, or ‘Persian jujubes.’ These names and others were applied since the time of the T’ang dynasty to the dates brought from Persia. The author of the Pen ts’ao kang mu (end of the sixteenth century) states that this fruit is called k’u-lu-ma in Persia. The Persian name of the date is khurma.”

Cf. Chau Ju-kwa, p. 210.

XXII., p. 128 n.

TUN-O-KAIN.

Major Sykes had adopted Sir Henry Yule’s theory of the route from Kuh-benan to Tun. He has since altered his opinion in the Geographical Journal, October, 1905, p. 465: “I was under the impression that a route ran direct from Kubunán to Tabas, but when visiting this latter town a few months ago I made careful inquiries on the subject, which elicited the fact that this was not the case, and that the route invariably followed by Kubunán-Tabas caravans joined the Kermán-Rávar-Naiband route at Cháh-Kuru, 12 miles south of Darbana. It follows this track as far as Naiband, whence the route to Tabas branches off; but the main caravan route runs viâ Zenagan and Duhuk to Tun. This new information, I would urge, makes it almost certain that Ser Marco travelled to Tun, as Tabas falls to the west of the main route. Another point is that the district of Tabas only grows four months’ supplies, and is, in consequence, generally avoided by caravans owing to its dearness.

“In 1893 I travelled from Tun to the south across the Lut as far as Cháh Kuru by this very route, and can testify to the general accuracy of Ser Marco’s description,[1] although there are now villages at various points on the way. Finally, as our traveller especially mentions Tonocain, or Tun va Kain, one is inclined to accept this as evidence of first-rate importance, especially as it is now corroborated by the information I gained at Tabas. The whole question, once again, furnishes an example of how very difficult it is to make satisfactory inquiries, except on the spot.”

It was also the opinion (1882) of Colonel C. E. Stewart, who says: “I was much interested in hearing of Kuh Banan, as it is one of the places mentioned by Marco Polo as on his route. Kuh Banan is described as a group of villages about 26 miles from the town of Rawar, in the Kárman district. I cannot help thinking the road travelled by Marco Polo from Kárman to Kain is the one by Naiband. Marco Polo speaks of Tun-o-Cain, which, Colonel Yule has pointed out, undoubtedly means Tun and Kain. At present Tun does not belong to the Kain district, but to the Tabbas district, and is always spoken of as Tun-o-Tabbas; and if it belonged, as I believe it formerly did, to the Kain district, it would be spoken of as Tun-o-Kain, exactly as Marco Polo does. Through Naiband is the shortest and best road to either Tun or Kain.” (Proc. Royal Geog. Soc., VIII., 1886, p. 144.)

Support to Yule’s theory has been brought by Sven Hedin, who devotes a chapter to Marco Polo in his Overland to India, II., 1910, Chap. XL., and discusses our traveller’s route between Kuh-benan and Tabbas, pp. 71 seq.:

“As even Sykes, who travelled during several years through Persia in all directions, cannot decide with full certainty whether Marco Polo travelled by the western route through Tebbes or the eastern through Naibend, it is easy to see how difficult it is to choose between the two roads. I cannot cite the reasons Sir Henry Yule brings forward in favour of the western route—it would take us too far. I will, instead, set forth the grounds of my own conviction that Marco Polo used the direct caravan road between Kuh-benan and Tebbes.

“The circumstance that the main road runs through Naibend is no proof, for we find that Marco Polo, not only in Persia but also in Central Asia, exhibited a sovereign contempt for all routes that might be called convenient and secure.

“The distance between Kerman and Kuh-benan in a direct line amounts to 103 miles. Marco Polo travelled over this stretch in seven days, or barely 15 miles a day. From Kuh-benan to Tebbes the distance is 150 miles, or fully 18 miles a day for eight days. From Kuh-benan viâ Naibend to Tun, the distance is, on the other hand, 205 miles, or more than 25 miles a day. In either case we can perceive from the forced marches that after leaving Kuh-benan he came out into a country where the distances between the wells became much greater.

“If he travelled by the eastern route he must have made much longer day’s journeys than on the western. On the eastern route the distances between the wells were greater. Major Sykes has himself travelled this way, and from his detailed description we get the impression that it presented particular difficulties. With a horse it is no great feat to ride 25 miles a day for eight days, but it cannot be done with camels. That I rode 42½ miles a day between Hauz-i-Haji-Ramazan and Sadfe was because of the danger from rain in the Kevir, and to continue such a forced march for more than two days is scarcely conceivable. Undoubtedly Marco Polo used camels on his long journeys in Eastern Persia, and even if he had been able to cover 205 miles in eight days, he would not be obliged to do so, for on the main road through Naibend and Duhuk to Tun there are abundant opportunities of procuring water. Had he travelled through Naibend, he would in any case have had no need to hurry on so fast. He would probably keep to the same pace as on the way from Kerman to Kuh-benan, and this length he accomplished in seven days. Why should he have made the journey from Kuh-benan to Tun, which is exactly double as far, in only eight days instead of fourteen, when there was no necessity? And that he actually travelled between Kuh-benan and Tunocain in eight days is evident, because he mentions this number twice.

“He also says explicitly that during these eight days neither fruits nor trees are to be seen, and that you have to carry both food and water. This description is not true of the Naibend route, for in Naibend there are excellent water, fine dates, and other fruits. Then there is Duhuk, which, according to Sykes, is a very important village with an old fort and about 200 houses. After leaving Duhuk for the south, Sykes says: ‘We continued our journey, and were delighted to hear that at the next stage, too, there was a village, proving that this section of the Lut is really quite thickly populated.’ [Ten Thousand Miles in Persia, p. 35.] This does not agree at all with Marco Polo’s description.

“I therefore consider it more probable that Marco Polo, as Sir Henry Yule supposes, travelled either direct to Tebbes, or perhaps made a trifling détour to the west, through the moderate-sized village Bahabad, for from this village a direct caravan road runs to Tebbes, entirely through desert. Marco Polo would then travel 150 miles in eight days compared with 103 miles in seven days between Kerman and Kuh-benan. He therefore increased his speed by only 4 miles a day, and that is all necessary on the route in question.

“Bahabad lies at a distance of 36 miles from Kubenan—all in a straight line. And not till beyond Bahabad does the real desert begin.

“To show that a caravan road actually connects Tebbes with Bahabad, I have inserted in the first and second columns of the following table the data I obtained in Tebbes and Fahanunch, and in the third the names marked on the ‘Map of Persia (in six sheets) compiled in the Simla Drawing Office of the Survey of India, 1897.’

From Tebbes to Bahabad.			From Fahanunch to Bahabad.
1.	Kurit	4	2.	Moghu	4½
2.	Moghu	9	3.	Sefid-ab	6
3.	Sefid-ab	6	4.	Belucha	5
4.	Burch	5	5.	God-i-shah-taghi	6
5.	God	5	6.	Rizab	5
6.	Rizab	6	7.	Teng-i-Tebbes	4½
7.	Pudenum	8	7.	Pudenun	4½
8.	Ser-i-julge	4	8.	Kheirabad	4
9.	Bahabad	4	9.	Bahabad	4
		—			——
	Farsakh	51		Farsakh	43½

Map of Persia.
2.	Maga	Salt well.
3.	Chasma Sufid	„ „
4.	Khudafrin	Sweet spring.
4.	Pir Moral	Salt well.
5.	God Hashtaki	„ „
6.	Rezu	„ „

“These details are drawn from different authorities, but are in excellent agreement. That the total distances are different in the first two columns is because Fahanunch lies nearer than Tebbes to Bahabad. Two or three discrepancies in the names are of no importance. Burch denotes a castle or fort; Belucha is evidently Cha-i-beluch or the well of the Baluchi, and it is very probable that a small fort was built some time or other at this well which was visited by raiders from Baluchistan. Ser-i-julge and Kheirabad may be two distinct camping grounds very near each other. The Chasma Sufid or ‘white spring’ of the English map is evidently the same place as Sefid-ab, or ‘white water.’ Its God Hashtaki is a corruption of the Persian God-i-shah-taghi, or the ‘hollow of the royal saxaul.’ Khudafrin, on the other hand, is very apocryphal. It is no doubt Khuda-aferin or ‘God be praised!’—an ejaculation very appropriate in the mouth of a man who comes upon a sweet spring in the midst of the desert. If an Englishman travelled this way he might have mistaken this ejaculation for the name of the place. But then ‘Unsurveyed’ would hardly be placed just in this part of the Bahabad Desert.

“The information I obtained about the road from Tebbes to Bahabad was certainly very scanty, but also of great interest. Immediately beyond Kurit the road crosses a strip of the Kevir, 2 farsakh broad, and containing a river-bed which is said to be filled with water at the end of February. Sefid-ab is situated among hillocks and Burch in an upland district; to the south of it follows Kevir barely a farsakh broad, which may be avoided by a circuitous path. At God-i-shah-taghi, as the name implies, saxaul grows (Haloxylon Ammodendron). The last three halting-places before Bahabad all lie among small hills.

“This desert route runs, then, through comparatively hilly country, crosses two small Kevir depressions, or offshoots of one and the same Kevir, has pasturage at at least one place, and presents no difficulties of any account. The distance in a direct line is 113 miles, corresponding to 51 Persian farsakh—the farsakh in this district being only about 2·2 miles long against 2·9 in the great Kevir. The caravans which go through the Bahabad desert usually make the journey in ten days, one at least of which is a rest day, so that they cover little more than 12 miles a day. If water more or less salt were not to be found at all the eight camping-grounds, the caravans would not be able to make such short marches. It is also quite possible that sweet water is to be found in one place; where saxaul grows driftsand usually occurs, and wells digged in sand are usually sweet.

“During my stay in Tebbes a caravan of about 300 camels, as I have mentioned before, arrived from Sebsevar. They were laden with naft (petroleum), and remained waiting till the first belt of Kevir was dried after the last rain. As soon as this happened the caravan would take the road described above to Bahabad, and thence to Yezd. And this caravan route, Sebsevar, Turshiz, Bajistan, Tun, Tebbes, Bahabad, and Yezd, is considered less risky than the somewhat shorter way through the great Kevir. I myself crossed a part of the Bahabad desert where we did not once follow any of the roads used by caravans, and I found this country by no means one of the worst in Eastern Persia.

“In the above exposition I believe that I have demonstrated that it is extremely probable that Marco Polo travelled, not through Naibend to Tun, but through Bahabad to Tebbes, and thence to Tun and Kain. His own description accords in all respects with the present aspect and peculiarities of the desert route in question. And the time of eight days he assigns to the journey between Kuh-benan and Tonocain renders it also probable that he came to the last-named province at Tebbes, even if he travelled somewhat faster than caravans are wont to do at the present day. It signifies little that he does not mention the name Tebbes; he gives only the name of the province, adding that it contains a great many towns and villages. One of these was Tebbes.”

XXII., p. 126.

TUTIA.

“It seems that the word is ‘the Arabicized word dúdhá, being Persian for “smokes.”’ There can be little doubt that we have direct confirmation of this in the Chinese words t’ou-t’ieh (still, I think, in use) and t’ou-shih, meaning ‘tou-iron’ and ‘t’ou-ore.’ The character T’ou 鍮 does not appear in the old dictionaries; its first appearance is in the History of the Toba (Tungusic) Dynasty of North China. This History first mentions the name ‘Persia’ in A.D. 455 and the existence there of this metal, which, a little later on, is also said to come from a State in the Cashmeer region. K’ang-hi’s seventeenth-century dictionary is more explicit: it states that Termed produces this ore, but that ‘the true sort comes from Persia, and looks like gold, but on being heated it turns carnation, and not black.’ As the Toba Emperors added 1000 new characters to the Chinese stock, we may assume this one to have been invented, for the specific purpose indicated.’” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, pp. 135–6.) Prof. Parker adds the following note, l.c., p. 149: “Since writing the above, I have come across a passage in the ‘History of the Sung Dynasty’ (chap. 490, p. 17) stating that an Arab junk-master brought to Canton in A.D. 990, and sent on thence to the Chinese Emperor in Ho Nan, ‘one vitreous bottle of tutia.’ The two words mean ‘metropolis-father,’ and are therefore without any signification, except as a foreign word. According to Yule’s notes (I., p. 126), tútiá, or dudhá, in one of its forms was used as an eye-ointment or collyrium.”

XXII., pp. 127–139. The Province of Tonocain “contains an immense plain on which is found the Arbre Sol, which we Christians call the Arbre Sec; and I will tell you what it is like. It is a tall and thick tree, having the bark on one side green and the other white; and it produces a rough husk like that of a chestnut, but without anything in it. The wood is yellow like box, and very strong, and there are no other trees near it nor within a hundred miles of it, except on one side, where you find trees within about ten miles distance.”

In a paper published in the Journal of the R. As. Soc., Jan., 1909, Gen. Houtum-Schindler comes to the conclusion, p. 157, that Marco Polo’s tree is not the “Sun Tree,” but the Cypress of Zoroaster; “Marco Polo’s arbre sol and arbre seul stand for the Persian dirakht i sol, i.e. the cypress-tree.” If General Houtum Schindler had seen the third edition of the Book of Ser Marco Polo, I., p. 113, he would have found that I read his paper of the J. R. A. S., of January, 1898.”

XXII., p. 132, l. 22. The only current coin is millstones.

Mr. T. B. Clarke-Thornhill wrote to me in 1906: “Though I can hardly imagine that there can be any connection between the Caroline Islands and the ‘Amiral d’Outre l’Arbre Sec,’ still it may interest you to know that the currency of ‘millstones’ existed up to a short time ago, and may do so still, in the island of Yap, in that group. It consisted of various-sized discs of quartz from about 6 inches to nearly 3 feet in diameter, and from ½ an inch to 3 or 4 inches in thickness.”

XXV., p. 146.

OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN.

Regarding the reduction of the Ismaelites, the Yuän Shï tells us that in 1222, on his way back after the taking of Nishapur, Tuli, son of Genghis, plundered the State of Mu-la-i, captured Herat, and joined his father at Talecan. In 1229 the King of Mu-lei presented himself at the Mongol Court.... The following statement is also found in the Mongol Annals: “In the seventh moon [1252] the Emperor ordered K’i-t’ah-t’êh Pu-ha to carry war against the Ma-la-hi.’” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 136.)

XXVI., p. 149. “On leaving the Castle [of the Old Man], you ride over fine plains and beautiful valleys, and pretty hill-sides producing excellent grass pasture, and abundance of fruits, and all other products.... This kind of country extends for six days’ journey, with a goodly number of towns and villages, in which the people are worshippers of Mahommet. Sometimes also you meet with a tract of desert extending for 50 or 60 miles, or somewhat less, and in these deserts you find no water, but have to carry it along with you.... So after travelling for six days as I have told you, you come to a city called Sapurgan....”

Sven Hedin remarks: “From this it is apparent that the six days’ journey of fine country were traversed immediately before Marco Polo reached Sapurgan. Sir Henry Yule says in a note: ‘Whether the true route be, as I suppose, by Nishapur and Meshed, or, as Khanikoff supposes, by Herat and Badghis, it is strange that no one of those famous cities is mentioned. And we feel constrained to assume that something has been misunderstood in the dictation, or has dropped out of it.’ Yule removes the six days of fine country to the district between Sebsevar and Meshed, and considers that for at least the first day’s marches beyond Nishapur Marco Polo’s description agrees admirably with that given by Fraser and Ferrier.

“I travelled between Sebsevar and Meshed in the autumn of 1890, and I cannot perceive that Marco Polo’s description is applicable to the country. He speaks of six days’ journey through beautiful valleys and pretty hillsides. To the east of Sebsevar you come out into desert country, which, however passes into fertile country with many villages.[2] Then there comes a boundless dreary steppe to the south. At the village Seng-i-kal-i-deh you enter an undulating country with immense flocks of sheep. ‘The first stretch of the road between Shurab and Nishapur led us through perfect desert ...; but the landscape soon changed its aspect; the desert passed by degrees into cultivated lands, and we rode past several villages surrounded by fields and gardens.... We here entered the most fertile and densely peopled region in Khorasan, in the midst of which the town of Nishapur is situated.’ Of the tract to the east of Nishapur I say: ‘Here are found innumerable villages. The plain and slopes are dotted with them. This district is extraordinarily densely inhabited and well cultivated.’ But then all this magnificence comes to an end, and of the last day’s journey between Kademgah and Meshed I write: ‘The country rose and we entered a maze of low intricate hillocks.... The country was exceedingly dreary and bare. Some flocks of sheep were seen, however, but what the fat and sleek sheep lived on was a puzzle to me.... This dismal landscape was more and more enlivened by travellers.... To the east stretched an undulating steppe up to the frontier of Afghanistan.’

“The road between Sebsevar and Meshed is, in short, of such a character that it can hardly fit in with Marco Polo’s enthusiastic description of the six days. And as these came just before Sapurgan, one cannot either identify the desert regions named with the deserts about the middle course of the Murgab which extend between Meshed and Shibirkhan. He must have crossed desert first, and it may be identified with the nemek-sar or salt desert east of Tun and Kain. The six days must have been passed in the ranges Paropamisus, Firuz-kuh, and Bend-i-Turkestan. Marco Polo is not usually wont to scare his readers by descriptions of mountainous regions, but at this place he speaks of mountains and valleys and rich pastures. As it was, of course, his intention to travel on into the heart of Asia, to make a détour through Sebsevar was unnecessary and out of his way. If he had travelled to Sebsevar, Nishapur, and Meshed, he would scarcely call the province of Tun-o-Kain the extremity of Persia towards the north, even as the political boundaries were then situated.

“From Balkh his wonderful journey proceeded further eastwards, and therefore we take leave of him. Precisely in Eastern Persia his descriptions are so brief that they leave free room for all kinds of speculations. In the foregoing pages it has been simply my desire to present a few new points of view. The great value of Marco Polo’s description of the Persian desert consists in confirming and proving its physical invariableness during more than six hundred years. It had as great a scarcity of oases then as now, and the water in the wells was not less salt than in our own days.” (Overland to India, II., pp. 75–77.)

XXVII., p. 152 n.

DOGANA.

“The country of Dogana is quite certain to be the Chinese T’u-ho-lo or Tokhara; for the position suits, and, moreover, nearly all the other places named by Marco Polo along with Dogana occur in Chinese History along with Tokhara many centuries before Polo’s arrival. Tokhara being the most important, it is inconceivable that Marco Polo would omit it. Thus, Poh-lo (Balkh), capital of the Eptals; Ta-la-kien (Talecan), mentioned by Hiuan Tsang; Ho-sim or Ho-ts’z-mi (Casem), mentioned in the T’ang History; Shik-nih or Shï-k’i-ni (Syghinan) of the T’ang History; Woh-k’an (Vochan), of the same work; several forms of Bolor, etc. (see also my remarks on the Pamir region in the Contemporary Review for Dec., 1897).” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 142.)

XXIX., p. 160.

BADAKHSHAN.

“The Chinese name for ‘Badakhshan’ never appears before the Pa-ta-shan of Kúblái’s time.” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 143.)

XXX., pp. 164–166. “You must know that ten days’ journey to the south of Badashan there is a province called Pashai, the people of which have a peculiar language, and are Idolaters, of a brown complexion. They are great adepts in sorceries and the diabolic arts. The men wear earrings and brooches of gold and silver set with stones and pearls. They are a pestilent people and a crafty; and they live upon flesh and rice. Their country is very hot.”

Sir A. Stein writes (Ancient Khotan, I., pp. 14–15 n.): “Sir Henry Yule was undoubtedly right in assuming that Marco Polo had never personally visited these countries and that his account of them, brief as it is, was derived from hearsay information about the tracts which the Mongol partisan leader Nigūdar had traversed, about 1260 A.D., on an adventurous incursion from Badakhshān towards Kashmīr and the Punjāb. In Chapter XVIII., where the Venetian relates that exploit (see Yule, Marco Polo, I., p. 98, with note, p. 104), the name of Pashai is linked with Dīr, the territory on the Upper Panjkōra river, which an invader, wishing to make his way from Badakhshān into Kashmīr by the most direct route, would necessarily have to pass through.

“The name Pashai is still borne to this day by a Muhamadanized tribe closely akin to the Siāh-pōsh, settled in the Panjshīr Valley and in the hills on the west and south of Kāfiristān. It has been very fully discussed by Sir Henry Yule (Ibid., I., p. 165), who shows ample grounds for the belief that this tribal name must have once been more widely spread over the southern slopes of the Hindu kúsh as far as they are comprised in the limits of Kāfiristān. If the great commentator nevertheless records his inability to account for Marco Polo’s application of ‘the name Pashai to the country south-east of Badakhshan,’ the reason of the difficulty seems to me to lie solely in Sir Henry Yule’s assumption that the route heard of by the traveller, led ‘by the Doráh or the Nuksán Pass, over the watershed of Hindu kúsh into Chitrál and so to Dir.’

“Though such a route viâ Chitrāl would, no doubt, have been available in Marco Polo’s time as much as now, there is no indication whatever forcing us to believe that it was the one really meant by his informants. When Nigūdar ‘with a great body of horsemen, cruel unscrupulous fellows’ went off from Badakhshān towards Kashmīr, he may very well have made his way over the Hindu kúsh by the more direct line that passes to Dīr through the eastern part of Kāfiristān. In fact, the description of the Pashai people and their country, as given by Marco Polo, distinctly points to such a route; for we have in it an unmistakable reflex of characteristic features with which the idolatrous Siāh-pōsh Kāfirs have always been credited by their Muhammadan neighbours.

“It is much to be regretted that the Oriental records of the period, as far as they were accessible to Sir Henry Yule, seemed to have retained only faint traces of the Mongol adventurer’s remarkable inroad. From the point of view of Indian history it was, no doubt, a mere passing episode. But some details regarding it would possess special interest as illustrating an instance of successful invasion by a route that so far has not received its due share of attention.” [See supra, pp. 4, 22–24.]

XXX., p. 164.

“The Chinese Toba Dynasty History mentions, in company with Samarcand, K’a-shī-mih (Cashmeer), and Kapisa, a State called Pan-shê, as sending tribute to North China along with the Persian group of States. This name Pan-shê 半社 does not, to the best of my belief, occur a second time in any Chinese record.” (Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 135.)

XXX., p. 164. “Now let us proceed and speak of another country which is seven day’s journey from this one [Pashai] towards the south-east, and the name of which is Keshimur.”

This short estimate has perplexed Sir Henry Yule, l.c., p. 166. Sir Aurel Stein remarks in a note, Serindia, I., p. 12: “The route above indicated [Nigudar’s route] permits an explanation. Starting from some point like Arnawal on the Kūnār River which certainly would be well within ‘Pashai,’ lightly equipped horsemen could by that route easily reach the border of Agrōr on the Indus within seven days. Speaking from personal knowledge of almost the whole of the ground I should be prepared to do the ride myself by the following stages: Dīr, Warai, Sado, Chakdara, Kin kargalai, Bājkatta, Kai or Darband on the Indus. It must be borne in mind that, as Yule rightly recognized, Marco Polo is merely reproducing information derived from a Mongol source and based on Nigudar’s raid; and further that Hazāra and the valley of the Jhelam were probably then still dependent on the Kashmīr kingdom, as they were certainly in Kalhana’s time, only a century earlier. As to the rate at which Mongols were accustomed to travel on ‘Dak,’ cf. Yule, Marco Polo, I., pp. 434 seq.”

XXXII., pp. 170, 171. “The people [of Badashan] are Mahommetans, and valiant in war.... They [the people of Vokhan] are gallant soldiers.”

In Afghan Wakhan, Sir Aurel Stein writes:

“On we cantered at the head of quite a respectable cavalcade to where, on the sandy plain opposite to the main hamlet of Sarhad, two companies of foot with a squad of cavalry, close on two hundred men in all, were drawn up as a guard of honour. Hardy and well set up most of them looked, giving the impression of thoroughly serviceable human material, in spite of a manifestly defective drill and the motley appearance of dress and equipment. They belonged, so the Colonel explained to me afterwards, to a sort of militia drafted from the local population of the Badakhshan valleys and Wakhan into the regiments permanently echeloned as frontier guards along the Russian border on the Oxus. Apart from the officers, the proportion of true Pathans among them was slight. Yet I could well believe from all I saw and heard, that, properly led and provided for, these sturdy Iranian hillmen might give a good account of themselves. Did not Marco Polo speak of the people of ‘Badashan’ as ‘valiant in war’ and of the men of ‘Vokhan’ as gallant soldiers?” (Ruins of Desert Cathay, I., p. 66.)

XXXII., pp. 170 seq.

In Chap. III., pp. 64–66, of his Serindia, Sir Aurel Stein has the following on Marco Polo’s account of Wakhan:—

“After Wu-k’ung’s narrative of his journey the Chinese sources of information about the Pāmīrs and the adjoining regions run dry for nearly a thousand years. But that the routes leading across them from Wakhān retained their importance also in Muhammedan times is attested by the greatest of mediæval travellers, Marco Polo. I have already, in Ancient Khotan [pp. 41 seq.], discussed the portion of his itinerary which deals with the journey across the Pāmīrs to ‘the kingdom of Cascar’ or Kāshgar, and it only remains here to note briefly what he tells us of the route by which he approached them from Badakhshan: ‘In leaving Badashan you ride twelve days between east and north-east, ascending a river that runs through land belonging to a brother of the Prince of Badashan, and containing a good many towns and villages and scattered habitations. The people are Mahommetans, and valiant in war. At the end of those twelve days you come to a province of no great size, extending indeed no more than three days’ journey in any direction, and this is called Vokhan. The people worship Mahommet, and they have a peculiar language. They are gallant soldiers, and they have a chief whom they call None, which is as much as to say Count, and they are liegemen to the Prince of Badashan.’ [Polo, I., pp. 170–171.]

“Sir Henry Yule was certainly right in assuming that ‘the river along which Marco travels from Badakhshan is no doubt the upper stream of the Oxus, locally known as the Panja.... It is true that the river is reached from Badakhshan Proper by ascending another river (the Vardoj) and crossing the Pass of Ishkáshm, but in the brief style of our narrative we must expect such condensation.’ [Polo, I., pp. 172–3.] Marco’s great commentator was guided by equally true judgment when he recognized in the indications of this passage the same system of government that prevailed in the Oxus valleys until modern times. Under it the most of the hill tracts dependent from Badakhshan, including Ishkāshim and Wakhān, were ruled not direct by the Mir, but by relations of his or hereditary chiefs who held their districts on a feudal tenure. The twelve days’ journey which Marco records between Badashan and ‘Vokhan’ are, I think, easily accounted for if it is assumed that the distance from capital to capital is meant; for twelve marches are still allowed for as the distance from Bahārak, the old Badakhshan capital on the Vardoj, to Kila Panja.

“That the latter was in Marco’s days, as at present, the chief place of Wakhān is indicated also by his narrative of the next stage of his journey. ‘And when you leave this little country, and ride three days north-east, always among mountains, you get to such a height that ’tis said to be the highest place in the world! And when you have got to this height you find

“His description of Wakhān as ‘a province of no great size, extending indeed no more than three days’ journey in any direction’ suggests that a portion of the valley must then have formed part of the chiefship of Ishkāshim or Zebak over which we may suppose ‘the brother of the Prince of Badashan’ to have ruled. Such fluctuations in the extent of Wakhān territory are remembered also in modern times. Thus Colonel Trotter, who visited Wakhān with a section of the Yarkand Mission in 1874, distinctly notes that ‘Wakhān formerly contained three “sads” or hundreds, i.e., districts, containing 100 houses each’ (viz. Sad-i-Sar-hadd, Sad Sipang, Sad Khandūt). To these Sad Ishtragh, the tract extending from Dīgargand to Ishkāshim, is declared to have been added in recent times, having formerly been an independent principality. It only remains to note that Marco was right, too, in his reference to the peculiar language of Wakhān; for Wakhī—which is spoken not only by the people of Wakhān but also by the numerous Wakhī colonists spread through Mastūj, Hunza Sarikol, and even further east in the mountains—is a separate language belonging to the well-defined group of Galcha tongues which itself forms the chief extant branch of Eastern Iranian.”

XXXII., pp. 171 seq., 175, 182.

Names of Places.	True Distance.	Distance according to Hwen Tsiang.
Khotan (Yutien) to Keriya (Pimo)	97 miles.	330 li.	86 miles.
Keriya (Pimo) to Niya (Niyang)	64 „	200 „	52 „
Niya (Niyang) to Endereh (Tuholo)	94 „	400 „	104 „
Endereh (Tuholo) to Kotāk Sheri? (Chemotona)	138? „	600 „	156 „
Kotak Sheri (Chemotona) to Lulan (Nafopo)	264? „	1000 „	260 „

“If we use the value of the ‘li’ 0·274 of a mile given by Hedin, the distances from Khotān to Keriya and from Keriya to Niya, according to Hwen Tsiang, become 91 and 55 miles instead of 86 and 52 as given in the table, which is not far from the true distances, 97 and 64.

“If, however, Pimo is identical with Kenan, as Stein thinks, the distances which Hwen Tsiang gives as 86 and 52 miles become respectively 60 and 89, which is evidently quite wrong.

“Strong confirmation of the identification of Keriya with Pimo is found in a comparison of extracts from Marco Polo’s and Hwen Tsiang’s accounts of that city with passages from my note-book, written long before I had read the comments of the ancient travellers. Marco Polo says that the people of Pein, or Pima, as he also calls it, have the peculiar custom ‘that if a married man goes to a distance from home to be about twenty days, his wife has a right, if she is so inclined, to take another husband; and the men, on the same principle, marry wherever they happen to reside.’ The quotation from my notes runs as follows: ‘The women of the place are noted for their attractiveness and loose character. It is said that many men coming to Keriya for a short time become enamoured of the women here, and remain permanently, taking new wives and abandoning their former wives and families.’

“Hwen Tsiang observed that thirty ‘li,’ seven or eight miles, west of Pimo, there is ‘a great desert marsh, upwards of several acres in extent, without any verdure whatever. The surface is reddish black.’ The natives explained to the pilgrim that it was the blood-stained site of a great battle fought many years before. Eighteen miles north-west of Keriya bazaar, or ten miles from the most westerly village of the oasis, I observed that ‘some areas which are flooded part of the year are of a deep rich red colour, due to a small plant two or three inches high.’ I saw such vegetation nowhere else and apparently it was an equally unusual sight to Hwen Tsiang.

“In addition to these somewhat conclusive observations, Marco Polo says that jade is found in the river of Pimo, which is true of the Keriya, but not of the Chira, or the other rivers near Kenan.” (Ellsworth Huntington, The Pulse of Asia, pp. 387–8.)

XXXVIII., p. 194. “The whole of the Province [of Charchan] is sandy, and so is the road all the way from Pein, and much of the water that you find is bitter and bad. However, at some places you do find fresh and sweet water.”

Sir Aurel Stein remarks (Ancient Khotan, I., p. 436): “Marco Polo’s description, too, ‘of the Province of Charchan’ would agree with the assumption that the route west of Charchan was not altogether devoid of settlements even as late as the thirteenth century.... [His] account of the route agrees accurately with the conditions now met with between Niya and Charchan. Yet in the passage immediately following, the Venetian tells us how ‘when an army passes through the land, the people escape with their wives, children, and cattle a distance of two or three days’ journey into the sandy waste; and, knowing the spots where water is to be had, they are able to live there, and to keep their cattle alive, while it is impossible to discover them.’ It seems to me clear that Marco Polo alludes here to the several river courses which, after flowing north of the Niya-Charchan route, lose themselves in the desert. The jungle belt of their terminal areas, no doubt, offered then, as it would offer now, safe places of refuge to any small settlements established along the route southwards.”

XXXIX., P. 197.

OF THE CITY OF LOP.

Stein remarks, Ruins of Desert Cathay, I., p. 343: “Broad geographical facts left no doubt for any one acquainted with local conditions that Marco Polo’s Lop, ‘a large town at the edge of the Desert’ where ‘travellers repose before entering on the Desert’ en route for Sha chou and China proper, must have occupied the position of the present Charklik. Nor could I see any reason for placing elsewhere the capital of that ‘ancient kingdom of Na-fo-po, the same as the territory of Lou-lan,’ which Hiuan Tsang reached after ten marches to the north-east of Chü-mo or Charchan, and which was the pilgrim’s last stage before his return to Chinese soil.”

In his third journey (1913–1916), Stein left Charchan on New Year’s Eve, 1914, and arrived at Charkhlik on January 8, saying: “It was from this modest little oasis, the only settlement of any importance in the Lop region, representing Marco Polo’s ‘City of Lop,’ that I had to raise the whole of the supplies, labour, and extra camels needed by the several parties for the explorations I had carefully planned during the next three months in the desert between Lop-nor and Tunhuang.”

“The name of Lob appears under the form Lo pou in the Yuan-shi, s.a. 1282 and 1286. In 1286, it is mentioned as a postal station near those of K’ie-t’ai, Che-ch’an and Wo-tuan. Wo-tuan is Khotan. Che-ch’an, the name of which reappears in other paragraphs, is Charchan. As to K’ie-t’ai, a postal station between those of Lob and Charchan, it seems probable that it is the Kätäk of the Tarikh-i-Rashidi.” (Pelliot.)

See in the Journ. Asiatique, Jan.–Feb., 1916, pp. 117–119, Pelliot’s remarks on Lob, Navapa, etc.

XXXIX., pp. 196–7.

THE GREAT DESERT.

After reproducing the description of the Great Desert in Sir Henry Yule’s version, Stein adds, Ruins of Desert Cathay, I., p. 518:

“It did not need my journey to convince me that what Marco here tells us about the risks of the desert was but a faithful reflex of old folklore beliefs he must have heard on the spot. Sir Henry Yule has shown long ago that the dread of being led astray by evil spirits haunted the imagination of all early travellers who crossed the desert wastes between China and the oases westwards. Fa-hsien’s above-quoted passage clearly alludes to this belief, and so does Hiuan Tsang, as we have seen, where he points in graphic words the impressions left by his journey through the sandy desert between Niya and Charchan.

“Thus, too, the description we receive through the Chinese historiographer, Ma Tuan-lin, of the shortest route from China towards Kara-shahr, undoubtedly corresponding to the present track to Lop-nor, reads almost like a version from Marco’s book, though its compiler, a contemporary of the Venetian traveller, must have extracted it from some earlier source. ‘You see nothing in any direction but the sky and the sands, without the slightest trace of a road; and travellers find nothing to guide them but the bones of men and beasts and the droppings of camels. During the passage of this wilderness you hear sounds, sometimes of singing, sometimes of wailing; and it has often happened that travellers going aside to see what these sounds might be have strayed from their course and been entirely lost; for they were voices of spirits and goblins.’...

“As Yule rightly observes, ‘these Goblins are not peculiar to the Gobi.’ Yet I felt more than ever assured that Marco’s stories about them were of genuine local growth, when I had travelled over the whole route and seen how closely its topographical features agree with the matter-of-fact details which the first part of his chapter records. Anticipating my subsequent observations, I may state here at once that Marco’s estimate of the distance and the number of marches on this desert crossing proved perfectly correct. For the route from Charklik, his ‘town of Lop,’ to the ‘City of Sachiu,’ i.e. Sha-chou or Tun-huang, our plane-table survey, checked by cyclometer readings, showed an aggregate marching distance of close on 380 miles.”

XXXIX., p. 196.

OF THE CITY OF LOP AND THE GREAT DESERT.

“In the hope of contributing something toward the solution of these questions [contradictory statements of Prjevalsky, Richthofen, and Sven Hedin],” writes Huntington, “I planned to travel completely around the unexplored part of the ancient lake, crossing the Lop desert in its widest part. As a result of the journey, I became convinced that two thousand years ago the lake was of great size, covering both the ancient and the modern locations; then it contracted, and occupied only the site shown on the Chinese maps; again, in the Middle Ages, it expanded; and at present it has contracted and occupies the modern site.

“Now, as in Marco Polo’s days, the traveller must equip his caravan for the desert at Charklik, also known as Lop, two days’ journey south-west of the lake.” (Ellsworth Huntington, The Pulse of Asia, pp. 240–1.)

XXXIX., pp. 197, 201.

NOISES IN THE GREAT DESERT.

As an answer to a paper by C. Tomlinson, in Nature, Nov. 28, 1895, p. 78, we find in the same periodical, April 30, 1896, LIII., p. 605, the following note by Kumagusu Minakata:

“The following passage in a Chinese itinerary of Central Asia—Chun Yuen’s Si-yih-kien-wan-luh, 1777 (British Museum, No. 15271, b. 14), tom. VII., fol. 13 b.—appears to describe the icy sounds similar to what Ma or Head observed in North America (see supra, ibid., p. 78).

“Muh-süh-urh-tah-fan (= Muzart), that is Ice Mountain [Snowy according to Prjevalsky], is situated between Ili and Ushi.... In case that one happens to be travelling there close to sunset, he should choose a rock of moderate thickness and lay down on it. In solitary night then, he would hear the sounds, now like those of gongs and bells, and now like those of strings and pipes, which disturb ears through the night: these are produced by multifarious noises coming from the cracking ice.”

Kumagusu Minakata has another note on remarkable sounds in Japan in Nature, LIV., May 28, 1896, p. 78.

Sir T. Douglas Forsyth, Buried Cities in the Shifting Sands of the Great Desert of Gobi, Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc., Nov. 13, 1876, says, p. 29: “The stories told by Marco Polo, in his 39th chapter, about shifting sands and strange noises and demons, have been repeated by other travellers down to the present time. Colonel Prjevalsky, in pp. 193 and 194 of his interesting Travels, gives his testimony to the superstitions of the Desert; and I find, on reference to my diary, that the same stories were recounted to me in Kashgar, and I shall be able to show that there is some truth in the report of treasures being exposed to view.”

P. 201, Line 12. Read the Governor of Urumtsi founded instead of found.

XL., p. 203. Marco Polo comes to a city called Sachiu belonging to a province called Tangut. “The people are for the most part Idolaters.... The Idolaters have a peculiar language, and are no traders, but live by their agriculture. They have a great many abbeys and minsters full of idols of sundry fashions, to which they pay great honour and reverence, worshipping them and sacrificing to them with much ado.”

Sachiu, or rather Tun Hwang, is celebrated for its “Caves of Thousand Buddhas”; Sir Aurel Stein wrote the following remarks in his Ruins of Desert Cathay, II., p. 27: “Surely it was the sight of these colossal images, some reaching nearly a hundred feet in height, and the vivid first impressions retained of the cult paid to them, which had made Marco Polo put into his chapter on ‘Sachiu,’ i.e. Tun-huang, a long account of the strange idolatrous customs of the people of Tangut.... Tun-huang manifestly had managed to retain its traditions of Buddhist piety down to Marco’s days. Yet there was plentiful antiquarian evidence showing that most of the shrines and art remains at the Halls of the Thousand Buddhas dated back to the period of the T’ang Dynasty, when Buddhism flourished greatly in China. Tun-huang, as the westernmost outpost of China proper, had then for nearly two centuries enjoyed imperial protection both against the Turks in the north and the Tibetans southward. But during the succeeding period, until the advent of paramount Mongol power, some two generations before Marco Polo’s visit, these marches had been exposed to barbarian inroads of all sorts. The splendour of the temples and the number of the monks and nuns established near them had, no doubt, sadly diminished in the interval.”

XL., p. 205.

Prof. Pelliot accepts as a Mongol plural Tangut, but remarks that it is very ancient, as Tangut is already to be found in the Orkhon inscriptions. At the time of Chingiz, Tangut was a singular in Mongol, and Tangu is nowhere to be found.

XL., p. 206.

The Tangutans are descendants of the Tang-tu-chüeh; it must be understood that they are descendants of T’u Kiueh of the T’ang Period. (Pelliot.)

Lines 7 and 8 from the foot of the page: instead of T’ung hoang, read Tun hoang; Kiu-kaan, read Tsiu tsüan.

XL., p. 207, note 2. The “peculiar language” is si-hia (Pelliot).

XLI., pp. 210, 212, n. 3.

THE PROVINCE OF CAMUL.

See on the discreditable custom of the people of Qamul, a long note in the second edition of Cathay, I., pp. 249–250.

XLI., p. 211.

Prof. Parker remarks (Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 142) that: “The Chinese (Manchu) agent at Urga has not (nor, I believe, ever had) any control over the Little Bucharia Cities. Moreover, since the reconquest of Little Bucharia in 1877–1878, the whole of those cities have been placed under the Governor of the New Territory (Kan Suh Sin-kiang Sün-fu), whose capital is at Urumtsi. The native Mohammedan Princes of Hami have still left to them a certain amount of home rule, and so lately as 1902 a decree appointing the rotation of their visits to Peking was issued. The present Prince’s name is Shamu Hust, or Hussot.”

XLII., p. 215.

THE PROVINCE OF CHINGINTALAS.

Prof. E. H. Parker writes in the Journ. of the North China Branch of the Royal As. Soc., XXXVII., 1906, p. 195: “On p. 215 of Yule’s vol. I. some notes of Palladius’ are given touching Chingkintalas, but it is not stated that Palladius supposed the word Ch’ih kin to date after the Mongols, that is, that Palladius felt uncertain about his identification. But Palladius is mistaken in feeling thus uncertain: in 1315 and 1326 the Mongol History twice mentions the garrison starts at Ch’ih kin, and in such a way that the place must be where Marco Polo puts it, i.e. west of Kia-yüh Kwan.”

OF THE PROVINCE OF SUKCHUR.

XLIII., p. 217. “Over all the mountains of this province rhubarb is found in great abundance, and thither merchants come to buy it, and carry it thence all over the world. Travellers, however, dare not visit those mountains with any cattle but those of the country, for a certain plant grows there which is so poisonous that cattle which eat it loose their hoofs. The cattle of the country know it and eschew it.”

During his crossing of the Nan Shan, Sir Aurel Stein had the same experience, five of his ponies being “benumbed and refusing to touch grass or fodder.” The traveller notes that, Ruins of Desert Cathay, II., p. 303: “I at once suspected that they had eaten of the poisonous grass which infests certain parts of the Nan Shan, and about which old Marco has much to tell in his chapter on ‘Sukchur’ or Su-chou. The Venetian’s account had proved quite true; for while my own ponies showed all the effects of this inebriating plant, the local animals had evidently been wary of it. A little bleeding by the nose, to which Tila Bai, with the veterinary skill of an old Ladak ‘Kirakash,’ promptly proceeded, seemed to afford some relief. But it took two or three days before the poor brutes were again in full possession of their senses and appetites.”

“Wild rhubarb, for which the Nan-shan was famous in Marco Polo’s days, spread its huge fleshy leaves everywhere.” (Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay, II., p. 305.)

XLIII., p. 218.

SUKCHUR.

The first character of Suchau was pronounced Suk at the time of the T’ang; we find a Sughčiu in von Le Coq’s MSS. from Turkestan and Sughču in the runnic text of W. Thomsen; cf. Pelliot, J. As., Mai–Juin, 1912, p. 591; the pronunciation Suk-chau was still used by travellers coming from Central Asia—for instance, by the envoys of Shah Rukh. See Cathay, III., p. 126 n.

OF THE CITY OF CAMPICHU.

XLIV., pp. 219 seq. “The Idolaters have many minsters and abbeys after their fashion. In these they have an enormous number of idols, both small and great, certain of the latter being a good ten paces in stature; some of them being of wood, others of clay, and others yet of stone. They are all highly polished, and then covered with gold. The great idols of which I speak lie at length. And round about them there are other figures of considerable size, as if adoring and paying homage before them.”

The ambassadors of Shah Rukh to China (1419–1422) wrote:

“In this city of Kamchau there is an idol temple five hundred cubits square. In the middle is an idol lying at length, which measures fifty paces. The sole of the foot is nine paces long, and the instep is twenty-one cubits in girth. Behind this image and overhead are other idols of a cubit (?) in height, besides figures of Bakshis as large as life. The action of all is hit off so admirably that you would think they were alive. Against the wall also are other figures of perfect execution. The great sleeping idol has one hand under his head, and the other resting on his thigh. It is gilt all over, and is known as Shakamuni-fu. The people of the country come in crowds to visit it, and bow to the very ground before this idol” (Cathay, I., p. 277).

XLV., p. 223.

OF THE CITY OF ETZINA.

I said, I., p. 225, that this town must be looked for on the river Hei-shui called Etsina by the Mongols, and would be situated on the river on the border of the Desert, at the top of a triangle, whose bases would be Suhchau and Kanchau. My theory seems to be fully confirmed by Sir Aurel Stein, who writes:

“Advantages of geographical position must at all times have invested this extensive riverine tract, limited as are its resources, with considerable importance for those, whether armed host or traders, who would make the long journey from the heart of Mongolia in the north to the Kansu oases. It had been the same with the ancient Lou-lan delta, without which the Chinese could not have opened up the earliest and most direct route for the expansion of their trade and political influence into Central Asia. The analogy thus presented could not fail to impress me even further when I proceeded to examine the ruins of Khara-khoto, the ‘Black Town’ which Colonel Kozloff, the distinguished Russian explorer, had been the first European to visit during his expedition of 1908–1909. There remained no doubt for me then that it was identical with Marco Polo’s ‘City of Etzina.’ Of this we are told in the great Venetian traveller’s narrative that it lay a twelve days’ ride from the city of Kan-chou, ‘towards the north on the verge of the desert; it belongs to the Province of Tangut.’ All travellers bound for Kara-koram, the old capital of the Mongols, had here to lay in victuals for forty days in order to cross the great ‘desert which extends forty days’ journey to the north, and on which you meet with no habitation nor baiting place.’

“The position thus indicated was found to correspond exactly to that of Khara-khoto, and the identification was completely borne out by the antiquarian evidence brought to light. It soon showed me that though the town may have suffered considerably, as local tradition asserts, when Chingiz Khan with his Mongol army first invaded and conquered Kansu from this side about 1226 A.D., yet it continued to be inhabited down to Marco Polo’s time, and partially at least for more than a century later. This was probably the case even longer with the agricultural settlement for which it had served as a local centre, and of which we traced extensive remains in the desert to the east and north-east. But the town itself must have seen its most flourishing times under Tangut or Hsi-hsia rule from the beginning of the eleventh century down to the Mongol conquest.

“It was from this period, when Tibetan influence from the south seems to have made itself strongly felt throughout Kansu, that most of the Buddhist shrines and memorial Stupas dated, which filled a great portion of the ruined town and were conspicuous also outside it. In one of the latter Colonel Kozloff had made his notable find of Buddhist texts and paintings. But a systematic search of this and other ruins soon showed that the archæological riches of the site were by no means exhausted. By a careful clearing of the débris which covered the bases of Stupas and the interior of temple cellas we brought to light abundant remains of Buddhist manuscripts and block prints, both in Tibetan and the as yet very imperfectly known old Tangut language, as well as plenty of interesting relievos in stucco or terra-cotta and frescoes. The very extensive refuse heaps of the town yielded up a large number of miscellaneous records on paper in the Chinese, Tangut, and Uigur scripts, together with many remains of fine glazed pottery, and of household utensils. Finds of Hsi-hsia coins, ornaments in stone and metal, etc., were also abundant, particularly on wind-eroded ground.

“There was much to support the belief that the final abandonment of the settlement was brought about by difficulties of irrigation.” (A Third Journey of Exploration in Central Asia, 1913–16, Geog. Jour., Aug.–Sept., 1916, pp. 38–39.)

M. Ivanov (Isviestia Petrograd Academy, 1909) thinks that the ruined city of Kara Khoto, a part at the Mongol period of the Yi-tsi-nai circuit, could be its capital, and was at the time of the Si Hia and the beginning of the Mongols, the town of Hei shui. It also confirms my views.

Kozlov found (1908) in a stupa not far from Kara Khoto a large number of Si Hia books, which he carried back to Petrograd, where they were studied by Prof. A. Ivanov, Zur Kenntniss der Hsi-hsia Sprache (Bul. Ac. Sc. Pet., 1909, pp. 1221–1233). See The Si-hia Language, by B. Laufer (T’oung Pao, March, 1916, pp. 1–126).

XLVI., p. 226. “Originally the Tartars dwelt in the north on the borders of Chorcha.”

Prof. Pelliot calls my attention that Ramusio’s text, f. 13 v, has: “Essi habitauano nelle parti di Tramontana, cioè in Giorza, e Bargu, doue sono molte pianure grandi....”

XLVI., p. 230.

TATAR.

“Mr. Rockhill is quite correct in his Turkish and Chinese dates for the first use of the word Tatar, but it seems very likely that the much older eponymous word T’atun refers to the same people. The Toba History says that in A.D. 258 the chieftain of that Tartar Tribe (not yet arrived at imperial dignity) at a public durbar read a homily to various chiefs, pointing out to them the mistake made by the Hiung-nu (Early Turks) and ‘T’a-tun fellows’ (Early Mongols) in raiding his frontiers. If we go back still further, we find the After Han History speaking of the ‘Middle T’atun’; and a scholion tells us not to pronounce the final ‘n.’ If we pursue our inquiry yet further back, we find that T’ah-tun was originally the name of a Sien-pi or Wu-hwan (apparently Mongol) Prince, who tried to secure the shen-yü ship for himself, and that it gradually became (1) a title, (2) and the name of a tribal division (see also the Wei Chi and the Early Han History). Both Sien-pi and Wu-hwan are the names of mountain haunts, and at this very day part of the Russian Liao-tung railway is styled the ‘Sien-pi railway’ by the native Chinese newspapers.” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 141.)

Page 231, note 3. Instead of Yuché, read Juché.

XLVI., p. 232.

KARACATHAYANS.

“There seems to be no doubt that Kerman in South Persia is the city to which the Kara-Cathayan refugee fled from China in 1124; for Major Sykes, in his recent excellent work on Persia, actually mentions [p. 194] the Kuba Sabz, or ‘Green Dome,’ as having been (until destroyed in 1886 by an earthquake) the most conspicuous building, and as having also been the tomb of the Kara-Khitai Dynasty. The late Dr. Bretschneider (N. China B. R. As. Soc. Journal, Vol. X., p. 101) had imagined the Kara-Cathayan capital to be Kerminé, lying between Samarcand and Bokhara (see Asiatic Quart. Rev. for Dec., 1900, ‘The Cathayans’). Colonel Yule does not appear to be quite correct when he states (p. 232) that ‘the Gurkhan himself is not described to have extended his conquests into Persia,’ for the Chinese history of the Cathayan or Liao Dynasties distinctly states that at Samarcand, where the Cathayan remained for ninety days, the ‘King of the Mohammedans’ brought tribute to the emigrant, who then went West as far as K’i-r-man, where he was proclaimed Emperor by his officers. This was on the fifth day of the second moon in 1124, in the thirty-eighth year of his age, and he then assumed the title of Koh-r-han” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, pp. 134–5.)

XLVI., p. 236.

KERAITS.

“In his note to Vol. I., p. 236, M. Cordier [read Mr. Rockhill], who seems to have been misled by d’Avezac, confuses the Ch’ih-lêh or T’ieh-lêh (who have been clearly proved to be identical with the Tölös of the Turkish inscriptions) with the much later K’êh-lieh or Keraits of Mongol history; at no period of Chinese history were the Ch’ih-lêh called, as he supposes, K’i-lê, and therefore the Ch’ih-lêh of the third century cannot possibly be identified with the K’ê-lieh of the thirteenth. Besides, the ‘value’ of lêh is ‘luck,’ whilst the ‘value’ of lieh is ‘leet,’ if we use English sounds as equivalents to illustrate Chinese etymology. It is remarkable that the Kin (Nüchen) Dynasty in its Annals leaves no mention whatever of the Kerait tribe, or of any tribe having an approximate name, although the Yüan Shï states that the Princes of that tribe used to hold a Nüchen patent. A solution of this unexplained fact may yet turn up.” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan. 1904, p. 139.)

Page 236, note [11]. Instead of Tura, read Tula. (Pelliot.)

LI., pp. 245, 248.

DEATH OF CHINGIZ KHAN.

“Gaubil’s statement that he was wounded in 1212 by a stray arrow, which compelled him to raise the siege of Ta-t’ung Fu, is exactly borne out by the Yüan Shï, which adds that in the seventh moon (August) of 1227 (shortly after the surrender of the Tangut King) the conqueror died at the travelling-palace of Ha-la T’u on the Sa-li stream at the age of sixty-six (sixty-five by our reckoning). As less than a month before he was present at Ts’ing-shui (lat. 34½°, long. 106½°), and was even on his dying bed, giving instructions how to meet the Nüchên army at T’ung-kwan (lat. 34½°, long. 110¼°), we may assume that the place of his death was on the Upper Wei River near the frontiers joining the modern Kan Suh and Shen Si provinces. It is true the Sa-li River (not stream) is thrice mentioned, and also the Sa-lê-chu River, both in Mongolia; on the other hand, the Sa-li Ouigours are frequently mentioned as living in West Kan Suh; so that we may take it the word Sali or Sari was a not uncommon Turkish word. Palladius’ identification of K’i-lien with ‘Kerulen’ I am afraid cannot be entertained. The former word frequently occurs in the second century B.C., and is stated to be a second Hiung-nu (Turkish) word for ‘sky’ or ‘heaven.’ At or about that date the Kerulen was known to the Chinese as the Lu-kü River, and the geographies of the present dynasty clearly identify it as such. The T’ien-Shan are sometimes called the K’i-lien Shan, and the word K’i-lien is otherwise well established along the line of the Great Wall.” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, pp. 136–7.)

Prof. Pelliot informs me that in No. 3 (Sept., 1918) of Vol. III of Chinese Social and Political Science Review there is an article on the Discovery of and Investigation concerning the Tomb of Gengis Khan. I have not seen it.

LI., p. 249.

TAILGAN.

“The táilgan, or autumn meeting of the Mongols, is probably the tái-lin, or autumn meeting, of the ancient Hiung-nu described on p. 10, Vol. XX. of the China Review. The Kao-ch’ê (= High Carts, Tölös, or early Ouigours) and the early Cathayans (Sien-pi) had very similar customs. Heikel gives an account of analogous ‘Olympic games’ witnessed at Urga in the year 1890.” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, pp. 140–1.)

LI., p. 251. Read T’ung hwo period (A.D. 992) instead of (A.D. 692).

LII., pp. 252, 254, n. 3. “[The Tartars] live on the milk and meat which their herds supply, and on the produce of the chase; and they eat all kinds of flesh, including that of horses and dogs, and Pharaoh’s rats, of which last there are great numbers in burrows on those plains.”

Pharaoh’s rat was the mangouste or ichneumon (Herpestes ichneumon) formerly found in this part of Asia as well as in Egypt where it was venerated. Cf. Cathay, II., p. 116.

LII., p. 254. Instead of “his tent invariably facing south,” read “facing east” according to the Chou Shu. (Pelliot.)

LII., p. 256 n.

MARRIAGE.

The China Review, Vol. XX. “gives numerous instances of marrying mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law amongst the Hiung nu. The practice was common with all Tartars, as, indeed, is stated by Yule.” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 141.)

LII., p. 257 n.

TENGRI (HEAVEN).

“The Mongol word Tengri (= Heaven) appears also in Hiung-nu times; in fact, the word shen yü is stated to have been used by the Hiung-nu alternatively with Tengri kudu (Son of Heaven).” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 141.)

LIV., p. 263 n.

COATS OF MAIL.

Parker’s note is erroneous.—See Laufer, Chinese Clay Figures, Part I.

LV., p. 267. “They [the Tartars] have another notable custom, which is this. If any man have a daughter who dies before marriage, and another man have had a son also die before marriage, the parents of the two arrange a grand wedding between the dead lad and lass. And marry them they do, making a regular contract! And when the contract papers are made out they put them in the fire, in order (as they will have it) that the parties in the other world may know the fact, and so look on each other as man and wife. And the parents thenceforward consider themselves sib to each other, just as if their children had lived and married. Whatever may be agreed on between the parties as dowry, those who have to pay it cause to be painted on pieces of paper and then put these in the fire, saying that in that way the dead person will get all the real articles in the other world.”

Mr. Kumagusu Minakata writes on the subject in Nature, Jan. 7, 1897, pp. 224–5:

“As it is not well known whether or not there is a record of this strange custom earlier than the beginning of the dynasty of Yuen, I was in doubt whether it was originally common to the Chinese and Tartars until I lately came across the following passage in Tsoh-mung-luh (Brit. Mus. copy, 15297, a 1, fol. 11–12), which would seem to decide the question—‘In the North there is this custom. When a youth and a girl of marriageable ages die before marriage, their families appoint a match-maker to negotiate their nuptials, whom they call “Kwei-mei” (i.e. “Match-Maker of Ghosts”). Either family hands over to another a paper noticing all pre-requisites concerning the affair; and by names of the parents of the intended couple asks a man to pray and divine; and if the presage tells that the union is a lucky one, clothes and ornaments are made for the deceased pair. Now the match-maker goes to the burying-ground of the bridegroom, and, offering wine and fruits, requests the pair to marry. There two seats are prepared on adjoining positions, either of which having behind it a small banner more than a foot long. Before the ceremony is consecrated by libation, the two banners remain hanging perpendicularly and still; but when the libation is sprinkled and the deceased couple are requested to marry, the banners commence to gradually approach till they touch one another, which shows that they are both glad of the wedlock. However, when one of them dislikes another, it would happen that the banner representing the unwilling party does not move to approach the other banner. In case the couple should die too young to understand the matter, a dead man is appointed as a tutor to the male defunct, and some effigies are made to serve as the instructress and maids to the female defunct. The dead tutor thus nominated is informed of his appointment by a paper offered to him, on which are inscribed his name and age. After the consummation of the marriage the new consorts appear in dreams to their respective parents-in-law. Should this custom be discarded, the unhappy defuncts might do mischief to their negligent relatives.... On every occasion of these nuptials both families give some presents to the match-maker (“Kwei-mei”), whose sole business is annually to inspect the newly-deceased couples around his village, and to arrange their weddings to earn his livelihood.’”

Mr. Kumagusu Minakata adds:

“The passage is very interesting, for, besides giving us a faithful account of the particulars, which nowadays we fail to find elsewhere, it bears testimony to the Tartar, and not Chinese, origin of this practice. The author, Kang Yu-chi, describes himself to have visited his old home in Northern China shortly after its subjugation by the Kin Tartars in 1126 A.D.; so there is no doubt that among many institutional novelties then introduced to China by the northern invaders, Marriage of the Dead was so striking that the author did not hesitate to describe it for the first time.

“According to a Persian writer, after whom Pétis de la Croix writes, this custom was adopted by Jenghiz Kân as a means to preserve amity amongst his subjects, it forming the subject of Article XIX. of his Yasa promulgated in 1205 A.D. The same writer adds: ‘This custom is still in use amongst the Tartars at this day, but superstition has added more circumstances to it: they throw the contract of marriage into the fire after having drawn some figures on it to represent the persons pretended to be so marry’d, and some forms of beasts; and are persuaded that all this is carried by the smoke to their children, who thereupon marry in the other world’ (Pétis de la Croix, Hist. of Genghizcan, trans. by P. Aubin, Lond., 1722, p. 86). As the Chinese author does not speak of the burning of papers in this connection, whereas the Persian writer speaks definitely of its having been added later, it seems that the marriage of the dead had been originally a Tartar custom, with which the well-known Chinese paper-burning was amalgamated subsequently between the reigns of Genghiz and his grandson Kúblái—under the latter Marco witnessed the customs already mingled, still, perhaps, mainly prevailing amongst the Tartar descendants.”

LV., p. 266. Regarding the scale of blows from seven to 107, Prof. Pelliot writes to me that these figures represent the theoretical number of tens diminished as a favour made to the culprit by three units in the name of Heaven, Earth and the Emperor.

LV., p. 268, n. 2. In the Yuan Shi, XX. 7, and other Chinese Texts of the Mongol period, is to be found confirmation of the fact, “He is slaughtered like a sheep,” i.e. the belly cut open lengthwise. (Pelliot.)

LVI., p. 269. “The people there are called Mescript; they are a very wild race, and live by their cattle, the most of which are stags, and these stags, I assure you, they used to ride upon.”

B. Laufer, in the Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association, Vol. IV., No. 2, 1917 (The Reindeer and its Domestication), p. 107, has the following remarks: “Certainly this is the reindeer. Yule is inclined to think that Marco embraces under this tribal name in question characteristics belonging to tribes extending far beyond the Mekrit, and which in fact are appropriate to the Tungus; and continues that Rashid-eddin seems to describe the latter under the name of Uriangkut of the Woods, a people dwelling beyond the frontier of Barguchin, and in connection with whom he speaks of their reindeer obscurely, as well as of their tents of birchbark, and their hunting on snowshoes. As W. Radloff [Die Jakutische Sprache, Mém. Ac. Sc. Pet., 1908, pp. 54–56] has endeavoured to show, the Wooland Uryangkit, in this form mentioned by Rashid-eddin, should be looked upon as the forefathers of the present Yakut. Rashid-eddin, further, speaks of other Uryangkit, who are genuine Mongols, and live close together in the Territory Barguchin Tukum, where the clans Khori, Bargut, and Tumat, are settled. This region is east of Lake Baikal, which receives the river Barguchin flowing out of Lake Bargu in an easterly direction. The tribal name Bargut (–t being the termination of the plural) is surely connected with the name of the said river.”

LVII., p. 276.

SINJU.

“Marco Polo’s Sinju certainly seems to be the site of Si-ning, but not on the grounds suggested in the various notes. In 1099 the new city of Shen Chou was created by the Sung or ‘Manzi’ Dynasty on the site of what had been called Ts’ing-t’ang. Owing to this region having for many centuries belonged to independent Hia or Tangut, very little exact information is obtainable from any Chinese history; but I think it almost certain that the great central city of Shen Chou was the modern Si-ning. Moreover, there was a very good reason for the invention of this name, as this Shen was the first syllable of the ancient Shen-shen State of Lob Nor and Koko Nor, which, after its conquest by China in 609, was turned into the Shen-shen prefecture; in fact, the Sui Emperor was himself at Kam Chou or ‘Campichu’ when this very step was taken.” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 144.)

LVIII., p. 282. Alashan is not an abbreviation of Alade-Shan and has nothing to do with the name of Eleuth, written in Mongol Ögälät. Nuntuh (nuntük) is the mediæval Mongol form of the actual nutuk, an encampment. (Pelliot.)

LVIII., p. 283, n. 3.

GURUN.

Gurun = Kurun = Chinese K’u lun = Mongol Urga.

LVIII., p. 283, n. 3. The stuff sa-ha-la (= saghlat) is to be found often in the Chinese texts of the XIVth and XVth Centuries. (Pelliot.)

LIX., pp. 284 seq.

KING GEORGE.

King or Prince George of Marco Polo and Monte Corvino belonged to the Öngüt tribe. He was killed in Mongolia in 1298, leaving an infant child called Shu-ngan (Giòvanni) baptized by Monte Corvino. George was transcribed Körgüz and Görgüz by the Persian historians. See Pelliot, T’oung Pao, 1914, pp. 632 seq. and Cathay, III., p. 15 n.

LIX., p. 286.

TENDUC.

Prof. Pelliot (Journ. As., Mai–Juin, 1912, pp. 595–6) thinks that it might be Tien tö, 天德, on the river So ling (Selenga).

LIX., p. 291.

CHRISTIANS.

In the Mongol Empire, Christians were known under the name of tarsa and especially under this of ärkägün, in Chinese ye-li-k’o-wen; tarsa, was generally used by the Persian historians. Cf. Pelliot, T’oung Pao, 1914, p. 636.

LIX., p. 295, n. 6. Instead of Ku-wei, read K’u-wai. (Pelliot.)

LXI., pp. 302, 310.

“The weather-conjuring proclivities of the Tartars are repeatedly mentioned in Chinese history. The High Carts (early Ouigours) and Jou-jan (masters of the Early Turks) were both given this way, the object being sometimes to destroy their enemies. I drew attention to this in the Asiatic Quart. Rev. for April, 1902 (‘China and the Avars’).” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 140.)

LXI., p. 305, n. Harlez’s inscription is a miserable scribble of the facsimile from Dr. Bushell. (Pelliot.)

LXI., p. 308, n. 5. The Yuan Shi, ch. 77, f^o 7 v., says that: “Every year, [the Emperor] resorts to Shang tu. On the 24th day of the 8th moon, the sacrifice called ‘libation of mare’s milk’ is celebrated.” (Pelliot.)

[1] The eight stages would be:—(1) Hasanábad, 21 miles; (2) Darband, 28 miles; (3) Chehel Pái, 23 miles; (4) Naiband, 39 miles; (5) Zenagán, 47 miles; (6) Duhuk, 25 miles; (7) Chah Khusháb, 36 miles; and (8) Tun, 23 miles.

[2] Genom Khorasan och Turkestan, I., pp. 123 seq.

BOOK SECOND.

PART I.—THE KAAN, HIS COURT AND CAPITAL.

II., p. 334.

NAYAN.

It is worthy of note that Nayan had given up Buddhism and become a Christian as well as many of his subjects. Cf. Pelliot, 1914, pp. 635–6.

VII., pp. 352, 353.

Instead of Sir-i-Sher, read Sar-i-Sher. (Pelliot.)

P’AI TZŬ.

“Dr. Bushell’s note describes the silver p’ai, or tablets (not then called p’ai tsz) of the Cathayans, which were 200 (not 600) in number. But long before the Cathayans used them, the T’ang Dynasty had done so for exactly the same purpose. They were 5 inches by 1½ inches, and marked with the five words, ‘order, running horses, silver p’ai,’ and were issued by the department known as the mên-hia-shêng. Thus, they were not a Tartar, but a Chinese, invention. Of course, it is possible that the Chinese must have had the idea suggested to them by the ancient wooden orders or tallies of the Tartars.” (E. H. Parker, As. Quart. Review, Jan., 1904, p. 146.)

Instead of “Publication No. 42” read only No. 42, which is the number of the pai tzŭ. (Pelliot.)

VIII., p. 358, n. 2.

Kún ḳú = hon hu may be a transcription of hwang heu during the Mongol Period, according to Pelliot.

IX., p. 360.

MONGOL IMPERIAL FAMILY.

“Marco Polo is correct in a way when he says Kúblái was the sixth Emperor, for his father Tu li is counted as a Divus (Jwei Tsung), though he never reigned; just as his son Chin kin (Yü Tsung) is also so counted, and under similar conditions. Chin kin was appointed to the chung shu and shu-mih departments in 1263. He was entrusted with extensive powers in 1279, when he is described as ‘heir apparent.’ In 1284 Yün Nan, Chagan-jang, etc., were placed under his direction. His death is recorded in 1285. Another son, Numugan, was made Prince of the Peking region (Pêh-p’ing) in 1266, and the next year a third son, Hukaji, was sent to take charge of Ta-li, Chagan-jang, Zardandan, etc. In 1272 Kúblái’s son, Mangalai, was made Prince of An-si, with part of Shen Si as his appanage. One more son, named Ai-ya-ch’ih, is mentioned in 1284, and in that year yet another, Tu kan, was made Prince of Chên-nan, and sent on an expedition against Ciampa. In 1285 Essen Temur, who had received a chung-shu post in 1283, is spoken of as Prince of Yün Nan, and is stated to be engaged in Kara-jang; in 1286 he is still there, and is styled ‘son of the Emperor.’ I do not observe in the Annals that Hukaji ever bore the title of Prince of Yün Nan, or, indeed, any princely title. In 1287 Ai-ya-ch’ih is mentioned as being at Shên Chou (Mukden) in connection with Kúblái’s ‘personally conducted’ expedition against Nayen. In 1289 one more son, Géukju, was patented Prince of Ning Yüan. In 1293 Kúblái’s third son, Chinkin, received a posthumous title, and Chinkin’s son Temur was declared heir-apparent to Kúblái.

“The above are the only sons of Kúblái whose names I have noticed in the Annals. In the special table of Princes Numugan is styled Pêh-an (instead of Pêh-p’ing) Prince. Aghrukji’s name appears in the table (chap. 108, p. 107), but though he is styled Prince of Si-p’ing, he is not there stated to be a son of Kúblái; nor in the note I have supplied touching Tibet is he styled a hwang-tsz or ‘imperial son.’ In the table Hukaji is described as being in 1268 Prince of Yün Nan, a title ‘inherited in 1280 by Essen Temur.’ I cannot discover anything about the other alleged sons in Yule’s note (Vol. I., p. 361). The Chinese count Kúblái’s years as eighty, he having died just at the beginning of 1294 (our February); this would make him seventy-nine at the very outside, according to our mode of reckoning, or even seventy-eight if he was born towards the end of a year, which indeed he was (eighth moon). If a man is born on the last day of the year he is two years old the very next day according to Chinese methods of counting, which, I suppose, include the ten months which they consider are spent in the womb.” (E. H. Parker, As. Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, pp. 137–139.)

XI., p. 370, n. 13.

The character King in King-shan is not the one representing Court 京 but 景.—Read “Wan-sui-Shan” instead of Wan-su-Shan.

XII., p. 380.

Keshikten has nothing to do with Ḳalchi. (Pelliot.)

XVIII., p. 398.

THE CHEETA, OR HUNTING LEOPARD.

Cf. Chapters on Hunting Dogs and Cheetas, being an extract from the “Kitab^u’ l-Bazyarah,” a treatise on Falconry, by Ibn Kustrajim, an Arab writer of the Tenth Century. By Lieut.-Colonel D. C. Phillott and Mr. R. F. Azoo (Journ. and Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Jan., 1907, pp. 47–50):

“The cheeta is the offspring of a lioness, by a leopard that coerces her, and, for this reason, cheetas are sterile like mules and all other hybrids. No animal of the same size is as weighty as the cheeta. It is the most somnolent animal on earth. The best are those that are ‘hollow-bellied,’ roach backed, and have deep black spots on a dark tawny ground, the spots on the back being close to each other; that have the eyes bloodshot, small and narrow; the mouth ‘deep and laughing’; broad foreheads; thick necks; the black line from the eyes long; and the fangs far apart from each other. The fully mature animal is more useful for sporting purposes than the cub; and the females are better at hunting than are the males, and such is the case with all beasts and birds of prey.”

See Hippolyte Boussac, Le Guépard dans l’Egypte ancienne (La Nature, 21st March, 1908, pp. 248–250).

XIX., p. 400 n. Instead of Hoy tiao, read Hey tiao (Hei tiao).

XIX., p. 400. “These two are styled Chinuchi (or Cunichi), which is as much as to say, ‘The Keepers of the Mastiff Dogs.’”

Dr. Laufer writes to me: “The word chinuchi is a Mongol term derived from Mongol činoa (pronounced čino or čono), which means ‘wolf,’ with the possessive suffix -či, meaning accordingly a ‘wolf-owner’ or ‘wolf-keeper.’ One of the Tibetan designations for the mastiff is čang-k’i (written spyang-k’yi), which signifies literally ‘wolf-dog.’ The Mongol term is probably framed on this Tibetan word. The other explanations given by Yule (401–402) should be discarded.”

Prof. Pelliot writes to me: “J’incline à croire que les Cunichi sont à lire Cuiuci et répondent au kouei-tch’e ou kouei-yeou-tch’e, ‘censeurs,’ des textes chinois; les formes chinoises sont transcrites du mongol et se rattachent au verbe güyü, ou güyi, ‘courir’; on peut songer à restituer güyükči. Un Ming-ngan (= Minghan), chef des kouei-tch’e, vivait sous Kúblái et a sa biographie au ch. 135 du Yuan Che; d’autre part, peut-être faut-il lire, par déplacement de deux points diacritiques, Bayan güyükči dans Rashid ed-Din, ed. Blochet, II., 501.”

XX., p. 408, n. 6. Cachar Modun must be the place called Ha-ch’a-mu-touen in the Yuan Shi, ch. 100, f^o. 2 r. (Pelliot.)

XXIV., pp. 423, 430. “Bark of Trees, made into something like Paper, to pass for Money over all his Country.”

Regarding Bretschneider’s statement, p. 430, Dr. B. Laufer writes to me: “This is a singular error of Bretschneider. Marco Polo is perfectly correct: not only did the Chinese actually manufacture paper from the bark of the mulberry tree (Morus alba), but also it was this paper which was preferred for the making of paper-money. Bretschneider is certainly right in saying that paper is made from the Broussonetia, but he is assuredly wrong in the assertion that paper is not made in China from mulberry trees. This fact he could have easily ascertained from S. Julien,[1] who alludes to mulberry tree paper twice, first, as ‘papier de racines et d’écorce de mûrier,’ and, second, in speaking of the bark paper from Broussonetia: ‘On emploie aussi pour le même usage l’écorce d’Hibiscus Rosa sinensis et de mûrier; ce dernier papier sert encore à recueillir les graines de vers à soie.’ What is understood by the latter process may be seen from Plate I. in Julien’s earlier work on sericulture,[2] where the paper from the bark of the mulberry tree is likewise mentioned.

“The Chi p’u, a treatise on paper, written by Su I-kien toward the close of the tenth century, enumerates among the various sorts of paper manufactured during his lifetime paper from the bark of the mulberry tree (sang p’i) made by the people of the north.[3]

“Chinese paper-money of mulberry bark was known in the Islamic World in the beginning of the fourteenth century; that is, during the Mongol period. Accordingly it must have been manufactured in China during the Yüan Dynasty. Ahmed Shibab Eddin, who died in Cairo in 1338 at the age of 93, and left an important geographical work in thirty volumes, containing interesting information on China gathered from the lips of eye-witnesses, makes the following comment on paper-money, in the translation of Ch. Schefer:[4]

“‘On emploie dans le Khita, en guise de monnaie, des morceaux d’un papier de forme allongée fabriqué avec des filaments de mûriers sur lesquels est imprimé le nom de l’empereur. Lorsqu’un de ces papiers est usé, on le porte aux officiers du prince et, moyennant une perte minime, on reçoit un autre billet en échange, ainsi que cela a lieu dans nos hôtels des monnaies, pour les matières d’or et d’argent que l’on y porte pour être converties en pièces monnayées.’

“And in another passage: ‘La monnaie des Chinois est faite de billets fabriqués avec l’écorce du mûrier. Il y en a de grands et de petits.... On les fabrique avec des filaments tendres du mûrier et, après y avoir apposé un sceau au nom de l’empereur, on les met en circulation.’[5]

“The banknotes of the Ming Dynasty were likewise made of mulberry pulp, in rectangular sheets one foot long and six inches wide, the material being of a greenish colour, as stated in the Annals of the Dynasty.[6] It is clear that the Ming Emperors, like many other institutions, adopted this practice from their predecessors, the Mongols. Klaproth[7] is wrong in saying that the assignats of the Sung, Kin, and Mongols were all made from the bark of the tree ču (Broussonetia), and those of the Ming from all sorts of plants.

“In the Hui kiang chi, an interesting description of Turkistan by two Manchu officials, Surde and Fusambô, published in 1772,[8] the following note headed ‘Mohamedan Paper’ occurs:

“‘There are two sorts of Turkistan paper, black and white, made from mulberry bark, cotton and silk refuse equally mixed, resulting in a coarse, thick, strong, and tough material. It is cut into small rolls fully a foot long, which are burnished by means of stones, and then are fit for writing.’

“Sir Aurel Stein[9] reports that paper is still manufactured from mulberry trees in Khotan. Also J. Wiesner,[10] the meritorious investigator of ancient papers, has included the fibres of Morus alba and M. nigra among the material to which his researches extended.

“Mulberry-bark paper is ascribed to Bengal in the Si yang ch’ao kung tien lu by Wu Kiën-hwang, published in 1520.[11]

“As the mulberry tree is eagerly cultivated in Persia in connection with the silk industry, it is possible also that the Persian paper in the banknotes of the Mongols was a product of the mulberry.[12] At any rate, good Marco Polo is cleared, and his veracity and exactness have been established again.”

XXIV., p. 427.

VALUE OF GOLD.

“L’or valait quatre fois son poids d’argent au commencement de la dynastie Ming (1375), sept ou huit fois sous l’empereur Wan-li de la même dynastie (1574), et dix fois à la fin de la dynastie (1635); plus de dix fois sous K’ang hi (1662); plus de vingt fois sous le règne de K’ien long; dix-huit fois au milieu du règne de Tao-koang (1840), quatorze fois au commencement du règne de Hien-fong (1850); dix-huit fois en moyenne dans les années 1882–1883. En 1893, la valeur de l’or augmenta considérablement et égala 28 fois celle de l’argent; en 1894, 32 fois; au commencement de 1895, 33 fois; mais il baissa un peu et à la fin de l’année il valait seulement 30 fois plus.” (Pierre Hoang, La Propriété en Chine, 1897, p. 43.)

XXVI., p. 432.

CH’ING SIANG.

Morrison, Dict., Pt. II, Vol. I., p. 70, says: “Chin-seang, a Minister of State, was so called under the Ming Dynasty.” According to Mr. E. H. Parker (China Review, XXIV., p. 101), Ching Siang were abolished in 1395.

In the quotation from the Masálak al Absár instead of Landjun (Lang Chang), read Landjun (Lang Chung).

XXXIII., pp. 447–8. “You must know, too, that the Tartars reckon their years by twelves; the sign of the first year being the Lion, of the second the Ox, of the third the Dragon, of the fourth the Dog, and so forth up to the twelfth; so that when one is asked the year of his birth he answers that it was in the year of the Lion (let us say), on such a day or night, at such an hour, and such a moment. And the father of a child always takes care to write these particulars down in a book. When the twelve yearly symbols have been gone through, then they come back to the first, and go through with them again in the same succession.”

“Ce témoignage, writes Chavannes (T’oung Pao, 1906, p. 59), n’est pas d’une exactitude rigoureuse, puisque les animaux n’y sont pas nommés à leur rang; en outre, le lion y est substitué au tigre de l’énumération chinoise; mais cette dernière différence provient sans doute de ce que Marco Polo connaissait le cycle avec les noms mongols des animaux; c’est le léopard dont il a fait le lion. Quoiqu’il en soit, l’observation de Marco Polo est juste dans son ensemble et d’innombrables exemples prouvent que le cycle des douze animaux était habituel dans les pièces officielles émanant des chancelleries impériales à l’époque mongole.”

XXXIII., p. 448.

PERSIAN.

With regard to the knowledge of Persian, the only oriental language probably known by Marco Polo, Pelliot remarks (Journ. Asiat., Mai-Juin, 1912, p. 592 n.): “C’est l’idée de Yule (cf. par exemple I., 448), et je la crois tout à fait juste. On peut la fortifier d’autres indices. On sait par exemple que Marco Polo substitue le lion au tigre dans le cycle des douze animaux. M. Chavannes (T’oung pao, II., VII., 59) suppose que ‘cette dernière différence provient sans doute de ce que Marco Polo connaissait le cycle avec les noms mongols des animaux: c’est le léopard dont il a fait le lion.’ Mais on ne voit pas pourquoi il aurait rendu par ‘lion’ le turco-mongol bars, qui signifie seulement ‘tigre.’ Admettons au contraire qu’il pense en persan: dans toute l’Asie centrale, le persan شير šīr a les deux sens de lion et de tigre. De même, quand Marco Polo appelle la Chine du sud Manzi, il est d’accord avec les Persans, par exemple avec Rachid ed-din, pour employer l’expression usuelle dans la langue chinoise de l’époque, c’est-à-dire Man-tseu; mais, au lieu de Manzi, les Mongols avaient adopté un autre nom, Nangias, dont il n’y a pas trace dans Marco Polo. On pourrait multiplier ces exemples.”

XXXIII., p. 456, n. Instead of Hui Heng, read Hiu Heng.

[1] Industries anciennes et modernes de l’Empire chinois. Paris, 1869, pp. 145, 149.

[2] Résumé des principaux Traités chinois sur la culture des mûriers et l’éducation des vers à soie, Paris, 1837, p. 98. According to the notions of the Chinese, Julien remarks, everything made from hemp like cord and weavings is banished from the establishments where silkworms are reared, and our European paper would be very harmful to the latter. There seems to be a sympathetic relation between the silkworm feeding on the leaves of the mulberry and the mulberry paper on which the cocoons of the females are placed.

[3] Ko chi king yüan, Ch. 37, p. 6.

[4] Relations des Musulmans avec les Chinois (Centenaire de l’Ecole des Langues Orientales vivantes, Paris, 1895, p. 17).

[5] Ibid., p. 20.

[6] Ming Shi, Ch. 81, p. 1.—The same text is found on a bill issued in 1375 reproduced and translated by W. Vissering (On Chinese Currency, see plate at end of volume), the minister of finance being expressly ordered to use the fibres of the mulberry tree in the composition of these bills.

[7] Mémoires relatifs à l’Asie, Vol. I., p. 387.

[8] A. Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature, p. 64. The copy used by me (in the John Crerar Library of Chicago) is an old manuscript clearly written in 4 vols. and chapters, illustrated by nine ink-sketches of types of Mohammedans and a map. The volumes are not paged.

[9] Ancient Khotan, Vol. I., p. 134.

[10] Mikroskopische Untersuchung alter ostturkestanischer Papiere, p. 9 (Vienna, 1902). I cannot pass over in silence a curious error of this scholar when he says (p. 8) that it is not proved that Cannabis sativa (called by him “genuine hemp”) is cultivated in China, and that the so-called Chinese hemp-paper should be intended for China grass. Every tyro in things Chinese knows that hemp (Cannabis sativa) belongs to the oldest cultivated plants of the Chinese, and that hemp-paper is already listed among the papers invented by Ts’ai Lun in A.D. 105 (cf. Chavannes, Les livres chinois avant l’invention du papier, Journal Asiatique, 1905, p. 6 of the reprint).

[11] Ch. B., p. 10b (ed. of Pie hia chai ts’ung shu).

[12] The Persian word for the mulberry, tūd, is supposed to be a loan-word from Aramaic. (Horn, Grundriss iran. Phil., Vol. I., pt. 2, p. 6.)

BOOK SECOND.

PART II.—JOURNEY TO THE WEST AND SOUTH-WEST OF CATHAY.

XXXVII, [p. 13.] “There grow here [Taianfu] 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.”

Dr. B. Laufer makes the following remarks to me: “Polo is quite right in ascribing vines and wine to T’aï Yüan-fu in Shan Si, and is in this respect upheld by contemporary Chinese sources. The Yin shan cheng yao written in 1330 by Ho Se-hui, contains this account[1]: ‘There are numerous brands of wine: that coming from Qara-Khodja[2] (Ha-la-hwo) is very strong, that coming from Tibet ranks next. Also the wines from P’ing Yang and T’aï Yüan (in Shan Si) take the second rank. According to some statements, grapes, when stored for a long time, will develop into wine through a natural process. This wine is fragrant, sweet, and exceedingly strong: this is the genuine grape-wine.’ Ts’ao mu tse, written in 1378 par Ye Tse-k’i,[3] contains the following information: ‘Under the Yüan Dynasty grape-wine was manufactured in Ki-ning and other circuits of Shan Si Province. In the eighth month they went to the T’ai hang Mountain,[4] in order to test the genuine and adulterated brands: the genuine kind when water is poured on it, will float; the adulterated sort, when thus treated, will freeze.[5] In wine which has long been stored, there is a certain portion which even in extreme cold will never freeze, while all the remainder is frozen: this is the spirit and fluid secretion of wine.[6] If this is drunk, the essence will penetrate into a man’s armpits, and he will die. Wine kept for two or three years develops great poison.’” For a detailed history of grape-wine in China, see Laufer’s Sino-Iranica.

XXXVII., [p. 16.]

VINE.

Chavannes (Chancellerie chinoise de l’époque mongole, II., pp. 66–68, 1908) has a long note on vine and grape wine-making in China, from Chinese sources. We know that vine, according to Sze-ma Ts’ien, was imported from Farghânah about 100 B.C. The Chinese, from texts in the T’ai p’ing yu lan and the Yuan Kien lei han, learned the art of wine-making after they had defeated the King of Kao ch’ang (Turfan) in 640 A.D.

XLI., [p. 27] seq.

CHRISTIAN MONUMENT AT SI-NGAN FU.

The slab King kiao pei, bearing the inscription, was found, according to Father Havret, 2nd Pt., p. 71, in the sub-prefecture of Chau Chi, a dependency of Si-ngan fu, among ancient ruins. Prof. Pelliot says that the slab was not found at Chau Chi, but in the western suburb of Si-ngan, at the very spot where it was to be seen some years ago, before it was transferred to the Pei lin, in fact at the place where it was erected in the seventh century inside the monastery built by Olopun. (Chrétiens de l’Asie centrale, T’oung pao, 1914, p. 625.)

In 1907, a Danish gentleman, Mr. Frits V. Holm, took a photograph of the tablet as it stood outside the west gate of Si-ngan, south of the road to Kan Su; it was one of five slabs on the same spot; it was removed without the stone pedestal (a tortoise) into the city on the 2nd October 1907, and it is now kept in the museum known as the Pei lin (Forest of Tablets). Holm says it is ten feet high, the weight being two tons; he tried to purchase the original, and failing this he had an exact replica made by Chinese workmen; this replica was deposited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the City of New York, as a loan, on the 16th of June, 1908. Since, this replica was purchased by Mrs. George Leary, of 1053, Fifth Avenue, New York, and presented by this lady, through Frits Holm, to the Vatican. See the November number (1916) of the Boll. della R. Soc. Geog. Italiana. “The Original Nestorian Tablet of A.D. 781, as well as my replica, made in 1907,” Holm writes, “are both carved from the stone quarries of Fu Ping Hien; the material is a black, sub-granular limestone with small oolithes scattered through it” (Frits V. Holm, The Nestorian Monument, Chicago, 1900). In this pamphlet there is a photograph of the tablet as it stands in the Pei lin.

Prof. Ed. Chavannes, who also visited Si-ngan in 1907, saw the Nestorian Monument; in the album of his Mission archéologique dans la Chine Septentrionale, Paris, 1909, he has given (Plate 445) photographs of the five tablets, the tablet itself, the western gate of the western suburb of Si-ngan, and the entrance of the temple Kin Sheng Sze.

Cf. Notes, pp. 105–113 of Vol. I. of the second edition of Cathay and the Way thither.

XLI., [p. 27.]

KHUMDAN.

Cf. Kumudana, given by the Sanskrit-Chinese vocabulary found in Japan (Max Müller, Buddhist Texts from Japan, in Anecdota Oxoniensia, Aryan Series, t. I., part I., p. 9), and the Khumdan and Khumadan of Theophylactus. (See Tomaschek, in Wiener Z. M., t. III., p. 105; Marquart, Erānšahr, pp. 316–7; Osteuropäïsche und Ostasiatische Streifzüge, pp. 89–90.) (Pelliot.)

XLI., [p. 29 n.] The vocabulary Hwei Hwei (Mahomedan) of the College of Interpreters at Peking transcribes King chao from the Persian Kin-chang, a name it gives to the Shen-si province. King chao was called Ngan-si fu in 1277. (Devéria, Epigraphie, p. 9.) Ken jan comes from Kin-chang = King-chao = Si-ngan fu.

Prof. Pelliot writes, Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, IV., July–Sept., 1904, p. 29: “Cette note de M. Cordier n’est pas exacte. Sous les Song, puis sous les Mongols jusqu’en 1277, Si-ngan fou fut appelé King-tchao fou. Le vocabulaire houei-houei ne transcrit pas ‘King-tchao du persan kin-tchang,’ mais, comme les Persans appelaient alors Si-ngan fou Kindjanfou (le Kenjanfu de Marco Polo), cette forme persane est à son tour transcrite phonétiquement en chinois Kin-tchang fou, sans que les caractères choisis jouent là aucun rôle sémantique; Kin-tchang fou n’existe pas dans la géographie chinoise. Quant à l’origine de la forme persane, il est possible, mais non pas sûr, que ce soit King-tchao fou. La forme ‘Quen-zan-fou,’ qu’un écolier chinois du Chen Si fournit à M. von Richthofen comme le nom de Si-ngan fou au temps des Yuan, doit avoir été fautivement recueillie. Il me paraît impossible qu’un Chinois d’une province quelconque prononce zan le caractère 兆 tchao.”

XLI., [p. 29 n.] A clause in the edict also orders the foreign bonzes of Ta T’sin and Mubupa (Christian and Mobed or Magian) to return to secular life.

Mubupa has no doubt been derived by the etymology mobed, but it is faulty; it should be Muhupa. (Pelliot, Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, IV., July–Sept., 1904, p. 771.) Pelliot writes to me that there is now no doubt that it is derived from mu-lu hien and that it must be understood as the “[religion of] the Celestial God of the Magi.”

XLIII., [p. 32.]

“The chien-tao, or ‘pillar road,’ mentioned, should be chan-tao, or ‘scaffolding road.’ The picture facing p. 50 shows how the shoring up or scaffolding is effected. The word chan is still in common use all over the Empire, and in 1267 Kúblái ordered this identical road (‘Sz Ch’wan chan-tao’) to be repaired. There are many such roads in Sz Ch’wan besides the original one from Han-chung-Fu.” (E. H. Parker, As. Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 144.)

XLIV., [p. 36.] Sindafu (Ch’êng tu fu).—Through the midst of this great city runs a large river.... It is a good half-mile wide....

“It is probable that in the thirteenth century, when Marco Polo was on his travels, the ‘great river a good half-mile wide,’ flowing past Chengtu, was the principal stream; but in the present day that channel is insignificant in comparison to the one which passes by Ta Hsien, Yung-Chia Chong, and Hsin-Chin Hsien. Of course, these channels are stopped up or opened as occasion requires. As a general rule, they follow such contour lines as will allow gravitation to conduct the water to levels as high as is possible, and when it is desired to raise it higher than it will naturally flow, chain-pumps and enormous undershot water-wheels of bamboo are freely employed. Water-power is used for driving mills through the medium of wheels, undershot or overshot, or turbines, as the local circumstances may demand.” (R. Logan Jack, Back Blocks, p. 55.)

XLIV., [p. 36.]

SINDAFU.

“The story of the ‘three Kings’ of Sindafu is probably in this wise: For nearly a century the Wu family (Wu Kiai, Wu Lin, and Wu Hi) had ruled as semi-independent Sung or ‘Manzi’ Viceroys of Sz Ch’wan, but in 1206 the last-named, who had fought bravely for the Sung (Manzi) Dynasty against the northern Dynasty of the Nüchên Tartars (successors to Cathay), surrendered to this same Kin or Golden Dynasty of Nüchêns or Early Manchus, and was made King of Shuh (Sz Ch’wan). In 1236, Ogdai’s son, K’wei-t’eng, effected the partial conquest of Shuh, entering the capital, Ch’êng-tu Fu (Sindafu), towards the close of the same year. But in 1259 Mangu in person had to go over part of the same ground again. He proceeded up the rapids, and in the seventh moon attacked Ch’ung K’ing, but about a fortnight later he died at a place called Tiao-yü Shan, apparently near the Tiao-yü Ch’êng of my map (p. 175 of Up the Yangtsze, 1881), where I was myself in the year 1881. Colonel Yule’s suggestion that Marco’s allusion is to the tripartite Empire of China 1000 years previously is surely wide of the mark. The ‘three brothers’ were probably Kiai, Lin, and T’ing, and Wu Hi was the son of Wu T’ing. An account of Wu Kiai is given in Mayers’ Chinese Reader’s Manual.” (E. H. Parker, As. Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, pp. 144–5.)

Cf. Mayers, No. 865, p. 259, and Giles, Biog. Dict., No. 2324, p. 880.

XLIV., [p. 38.]

SINDAFU.

Tch’eng Tu was the capital of the Kingdom of Shu. The first Shu Dynasty was the Minor Han Dynasty which lasted from A.D. 221 to A.D. 263; this Shu Dynasty was one of the Three Kingdoms (San Kwo chi); the two others being Wei (A.D. 220–264) reigning at Lo Yang, and Wu (A.D. 222–277) reigning at Kien Kang (Nan King). The second was the Ts’ien Shu Dynasty, founded in 907 by Wang Kien, governor of Sze Chw’an since 891; it lasted till 925, when it submitted to the Hau T’ang; in 933 the Hau T’ang were compelled to grant the title of King of Shu (Hau Shu) to Mong Chi-siang, governor of Sze Chw’an, who was succeeded by Mong Ch’ang, dethroned in 965; the capital was also Ch’eng Tu under these two dynasties.

TIBET.

XLV., [p. 44.] No man of that country would on any consideration take to wife a girl who was a maid; for they say a wife is nothing worth unless she has been used to consort with men. And their custom is this, that when travellers come that way, the old women of the place get ready, and take their unmarried daughters or other girls related to them, and go to the strangers who are passing, and make over the young women to whomsoever will accept them; and the travellers take them accordingly and do their pleasure; after which the girls are restored to the old women who brought them....

Speaking of the Sifan village of Po Lo and the account given by Marco Polo of the customs of these people, M. R. Logan Jack (Back Blocks, 1904, pp. 145–6) writes: “I freely admit that the good looks and modest bearing of the girls were the chief merits of the performance in my eyes. Had the danseuses been scrubbed and well dressed, they would have been a presentable body of débutantes in any European ballroom. One of our party, frivolously disposed, asked a girl (through an interpreter) if she would marry him and go to his country. The reply, ‘I do not know you, sir,’ was all that propriety could have demanded in the best society, and worthy of a pupil ‘finished’ at Miss Pinkerton’s celebrated establishment.... Judging from our experience, no idea of hospitalities of the kind [Marco’s experience] was in the people’s minds.”

XLV., [p. 45.] Speaking of the people of Tibet, Polo says: “They are very poorly clad, for their clothes are only of the skins of beasts, and of canvas, and of buckram.”

Add to the note, I., p. 48, n. 5:—

“Au XIV^e siècle, le bougran [buckram] était une espèce de tissu de lin: le meilleur se fabriquait en Arménie et dans le royaume de Mélibar, s’il faut s’en rapporter à Marco Polo, qui nous apprend que les habitants du Thibet, qu’il signale comme pauvrement vêtus, l’étaient de canevas et de bougran, et que cette dernière étoffe se fabriquait aussi dans la province d’Abasce. Il en venait également de l’île de Chypre. Sorti des manufactures d’Espagne ou importé dans le royaume, à partir de 1442, date d’une ordonnance royale publiée par le P. Saez, le bougran le plus fin payait soixante-dix maravédis de droits, sans distinction de couleur” (Francisque-Michel, Recherches sur le commerce, la fabrication et l’usage des étoffes de soie, d’or et d’argent.... II., 1854, pp. 33–4). Passage mentioned by Dr. Laufer.

XLV., pp. [46 n.], [49] seq.

Referring to Dr. E. Bretschneider, Prof. E. H. Parker gives the following notes in the Asiatic Quart. Review, Jan., 1904, p. 131: “In 1251 Ho-êrh-t’ai was appointed to the command of the Mongol and Chinese forces advancing on Tibet (T’u-fan). [In my copy of the Yüan Shï there is no entry under the year 1254 such as that mentioned by Bretschneider; it may, however, have been taken by Palladius from some other chapter.] In 1268 Mang-ku-tai was ordered to invade the Si-fan (outer Tibet) and Kien-tu [Marco’s Caindu] with 6000 men. Bretschneider, however, omits Kien-tu, and also omits to state that in 1264 eighteen Si-fan clans were placed under the superintendence of the an-fu-sz (governor) of An-si Chou, and that in 1265 a reward was given to the troops of the decachiliarch Hwang-li-t’a-rh for their services against the T’u-fan, with another reward to the troops under Prince Ye-suh-pu-hwa for their successes against the Si-fan. Also that in 1267 the Si-fan chieftains were encouraged to submit to Mongol power, in consequence of which A-nu-pan-ti-ko was made Governor-General of Ho-wu and other regions near it. Bretschneider’s next item after the doubtful one of 1274 is in 1275, as given by Cordier, but he omits to state that in 1272 Mang-ku-tai’s eighteen clans and other T’u-fan troops were ordered in hot haste to attack Sin-an Chou, belonging to the Kien-tu prefecture; and that a post-station called Ning-ho Yih was established on the T’u-fan and Si-Ch’wan [= Sz Ch’wan] frontier. In 1275 a number of Princes, including Chi-pi T’ie-mu-r, and Mang-u-la, Prince of An-si, were sent to join the Prince of Si-p’ing [Kúblái’s son] Ao-lu-ch’ih in his expedition against the Tu-fan. In 1276 all Si-fan bonzes (lamas) were forbidden to carry arms, and the Tu-fan city of Hata was turned into Ning-yüan Fu [as it now exists]; garrisons and civil authorities were placed in Kien-tu and Lo-lo-sz [the Lolo country]. In 1277 a Customs station was established at Tiao-mên and Li-Chou [Ts’ing-k’i Hien in Ya-chou Fu] for the purposes of Tu-fan trade. In 1280 more Mongol troops were sent to the Li Chou region, and a special officer was appointed for T’u-fan [Tibetan] affairs at the capital. In 1283 a high official was ordered to print the official documents connected with the süan-wei-sz [governorship] of T’u-fan. In 1288 six provinces, including those of Sz Chw’an and An-si, were ordered to contribute financial assistance to the süan-wei-shï [governor] of U-sz-tsang [the indigenous name of Tibet proper]. Every year or two after this, right up to 1352, there are entries in the Mongol Annals amply proving that the conquest of Tibet under the Mongols was not only complete, but fully narrated; however, there is no particular object in carrying the subject here beyond the date of Marco’s departure from China. There are many mentions of Kien-tu (which name dates from the Sung Dynasty) in the Yüan-shï; it is the Kien-ch’ang Valley of to-day, with capital at Ning-yüan, as clearly marked on Bretschneider’s Map. Baber’s suggestion of the Chan-tui tribe of Tibetans is quite obsolete, although Baber was one of the first to explore the region in person. A petty tribe like the Chan-tui could never have given name to Caindu; besides, both initials and finals are impossible, and the Chan-tui have never lived there. I have myself met Si-fan chiefs at Peking; they may be described roughly as Tibetans not under the Tibetan Government. The T’u-fan, T’u-po, or Tubot, were the Tibetans under Tibetan rule, and they are now usually styled ‘Si-tsang’ by the Chinese. Yaci [Ya-ch’ih, Ya-ch’ï] is frequently mentioned in the Yüan-shï, and the whole of Devéria’s quotation given by Cordier on p. 72 appears there [chap. 121, p. 5], besides a great deal more to the point, without any necessity for consulting the Lei pien. Cowries, under the name of pa-tsz, are mentioned in both Mongol and Ming history as being in use for money in Siam and Yung-ch’ang [Vociam]. The porcelain coins which, as M. Cordier quotes from me on p. 74, I myself saw current in the Shan States or Siam about ten years ago, were of white China, with a blue figure, and about the size of a Keating’s cough lozenge, but thicker. As neither form of the character pa appears in any dictionary, it is probably a foreign word only locally understood. Regarding the origin of the name Yung-ch’ang, the discussions upon p. 105 are no longer necessary; in the eleventh moon of 1272 [say about January 1, 1273] Kúblái ‘presented the name Yung-ch’ang to the new city built by Prince Chi-pi T’ie-mu-r.’”

XLVI., [p. 49.] They have also in this country [Tibet] plenty of fine woollens and other stuffs, and many kinds of spices are produced there which are never seen in our country.

Dr. Laufer draws my attention to the fact that this translation does not give exactly the sense of the French text, which runs thus:

“Et encore voz di qe en ceste provence a gianbelot [camelot] assez et autres dras d’or et de soie, et hi naist maintes especes qe unques ne furent veue en nostre païs.” (Ed. Soc. de Géog., Chap, cxvi., p. 128.)

In the Latin text (Ibid., p. 398), we have:

“In ista provincia sunt giambelloti satis et alii panni de sirico et auro; et ibi nascuntur multæ species quæ nunquam fuerunt visæ in nostris contractis.”

Francisque-Michel (Recherches, II., p. 44) says: “Les Tartares fabriquaient aussi à Aias de très-beaux camelots de poil de chameau, que l’on expédiait pour divers pays, et Marco Polo nous apprend que cette denrée était fort abondante dans le Thibet. Au XV^e siècle, il en venait de l’île de Chypre.”

XLVII., [pp. 50], [52.]

WILD OXEN CALLED BEYAMINI.

Dr. Laufer writes to me: “Yule correctly identifies the ‘wild oxen’ of Tibet with the gayal (Bos gavaeus), but I do not believe that his explanation of the word beyamini (from an artificially constructed buemini = Bohemian) can be upheld. Polo states expressly that these wild oxen are called beyamini (scil. by the natives), and evidently alludes to a native Tibetan term. The gayal is styled in Tibetan ba-men (or ba-man), derived from ba (‘cow’), a diminutive form of which is beu. Marco Polo appears to have heard some dialectic form of this word like beu-men or beu-min.”

XLVIII., [p. 70.]

KIUNG TU AND KIEN TU.

Kiung tu or Kiang tu is Caindu in Sze-Ch’wan; Kien tu is in Yun Nan. Cf. Pelliot, Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, July–Sept, 1904, p. 771. Caindu or Ning Yuan was, under the Mongols, a dependency of Yun Nan, not of Sze Ch’wan. (Pelliot.)

XLVIII., [p. 72.] The name Karájáng. “The first element was the Mongol or Turki Kárá.... Among the inhabitants of this country some are black, and others are white; these latter are called by the Mongols Chaghán-Jáng (‘White Jang’). Jang has not been explained; but probably it may have been a Tibetan term adopted by the Mongols, and the colours may have applied to their clothing.”

Dr. Berthold Laufer, of Chicago, has a note on the subject in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Soc., Oct., 1915, pp. 781–4: “M. Pelliot (Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, IV., 1904, p. 159) proposed to regard the unexplained name Jang as the Mongol transcription of Ts’uan, the ancient Chinese designation of the Lo-lo, taken from the family name of one of the chiefs of the latter; he gave his opinion, however, merely as an hypothesis which should await confirmation. I now believe that Yule was correct in his conception, and that, in accordance with his suggestion, Jang indeed represents the phonetically exact transcription of a Tibetan proper name. This is the Tibetan ạ Jaṅ or ạ Jaṇs (the prefixed letter ạ and the optional affix -s being silent, hence pronounced Jang or Djang), of which the following precise definition is given in the Dictionnaire tibétain-latin français par les Missionnaires Catholiques du Tibet (p. 351): ‘Tribus et regionis nomen in N.-W. provinciae Sinarum Yun-nan, cuius urbs principalis est Sa-t’am seu Ly-kiang fou. Tribus vocatur Mosso a Sinensibus et Nashi ab ipsismet incolis.’ In fact, as here stated, Jaⁿ or Jang is the Tibetan designation of the Moso and the territory inhabited by them, the capital of which is Li-kiang-fu. This name is found also in Tibetan literature....”

XLVIII., [p. 74, n. 2.] One thousand Uighúr families (hou) had been transferred to Karajáng in 1285. (Yuan shi, ch. 13, 8v^o, quoted by Pelliot.)

L., [pp. 85–6.] Zardandan. “The country is wild and hard of access, full of great woods and mountains which ’tis impossible to pass, the air in summer is so impure and bad; and any foreigners attempting it would die for certain.”

“An even more formidable danger was the resolution of our ‘permanent’ (as distinguished from ‘local’) soldiers and mafus, of which we were now apprised, to desert us in a body, as they declined to face the malaria of the Lu-Kiang Ba, or Salwen Valley. We had, of course, read in Gill’s book of this difficulty, but as we approached the Salwen we had concluded that the scare had been forgotten. We found, to our chagrin, that the dreaded ‘Fever Valley’ had lost none of its terrors. The valley had a bad name in Marco Polo’s day, in the thirteenth century, and its reputation has clung to it ever since, with all the tenacity of Chinese traditions. The Chinaman of the district crosses the valley daily without fear, but the Chinaman from a distance knows that he will either die or his wife will prove unfaithful. If he is compelled to go, the usual course is to write to his wife and tell her that she is free to look out for another husband. Having made up his mind that he will die, I have no doubt that he often dies through sheer funk.” (R. Logan Jack, Back Blocks of China, 1904, p. 205.)

L., pp. [84], [89.]

CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ZARDANDAN.

We read in Huber’s paper already mentioned (Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, Oct.–Dec., 1909, p. 665): “The second month of the twelfth year (1275), Ho T’ien-tsio, governor of the Kien Ning District, sent the following information: ‘A-kouo of the Zerdandan tribe, knows three roads to enter Burma, one by T’ien pu ma, another by the P’iao tien, and the third by the very country of A-kouo; the three roads meet at the ‘City of the Head of the River’ [Kaung si] in Burma.’” A-kouo, named elsewhere A-ho, lived at Kan-ngai. According to Huber, the Zardandan road is the actual caravan road to Bhamo on the left of the Nam Ti and Ta Ping; the second route would be by the T’ien ma pass and Nam hkam, the P’iao tien route is the road on the right bank of the Nam Ti and the Ta Ping leading to Bhamo viâ San Ta and Man Waing.

The Po Yi and Ho Ni tribes are mentioned in the Yuan Shi, s.a. 1278. (Pelliot.)

L., [p. 90.]

Mr. H. A. Ottewill tells me in a private note that the Kachins or Singphos did not begin to reach Burma in their emigration from Tibet until last century or possibly this century. They are not to be found east of the Salwen River.

L., [p. 91.]

COUVADE.

There is a paper on the subject in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie (1911, pp. 546–63) by Hugo Kunicke, Das sogennante “Männerkindbett,” with a bibliography not mentioning Yule’s Marco Polo, Vinson, etc. We may also mention: De la “Covada” en España. Por el Prof. Dr. Telesforo de Aranzadi, Barcelona (Anthropos, T. V., fasc. 4, Juli–August, 1910, pp. 775–8).

L., [p. 92 n.]

I quoted Prof. E. H. Parker (China Review, XIV., p. 359), who wrote that the “Langszi are evidently the Szi lang, one of the six Chao, but turned upside down.” Prof. Pelliot (Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, IV., July–Sept., 1904, p. 771) remarks: “Mr. Parker is entirely wrong. The Chao of Shi-lang, which was annexed by Nan Chao during the eighth century, was in the western part of Yun Nan, not in Kwei chau; we have but little information on the subject.” He adds: “The custom of Couvade is confirmed for the Lao of Southern China by the following text of the Yi wu chi of Fang Ts’ien-li, dating at least from the time of the T’ang dynasty: ‘When a Lao woman of Southern China has a child, she goes out at once. The husband goes to bed exhausted, like a woman giving suck. If he does not take care, he becomes ill. The woman has no harm.’”

L., [pp. 91–95.]

Under the title of The Couvade or “Hatching,” John Cain writes from Dumagudem, 31st March, 1874, to the Indian Antiquary, May, 1874, p. 151:

“In the districts in South India in which Telugu is spoken, there is a wandering tribe of people called the Erukalavandlu. They generally pitch their huts, for the time being, just outside a town or village. Their chief occupations are fortune-telling, rearing pigs, and making mats. Those in this part of the Telugu country observe the custom mentioned in Max Müller’s Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. II., pp. 277–284. Directly the woman feels the birth-pangs, she informs her husband, who immediately takes some of her clothes, puts them on, places on his forehead the mark which the women usually place on theirs, retires into a dark room where is only a very dim lamp, and lies down on the bed, covering himself up with a long cloth. When the child is born, it is washed and placed on the cot beside the father. Assafœtida, jaggery, and other articles are then given, not to the mother, but to the father. During the days of ceremonial uncleanness the man is treated as the other Hindus treat their women on such occasions. He is not allowed to leave his bed, but has everything needful brought to him.”

Mr. John Cain adds (l.c., April, 1879, p. 106): “The women are called ‘hens’ by their husbands, and the male and female children ‘cock children’ and ‘hen children’ respectively.”

LI., [p. 99 n.] “M. Garnier informs me that Mien Kwé or Mien Tisong is the name always given in Yun Nan to that kingdom.”

Mien Tisong is surely faulty, and must likely be corrected in Mien Chung, proved especially at the Ming Period. (Pelliot, Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, IV., July–Sept, 1904, p. 772.)

LI., LII., [pp. 98] seq.

WAR AGAINST THE KING OF MIEN.

The late Edouard Huber of Hanoi, writing from Burmese sources, throws new light on this subject: “In the middle of the thirteenth century, the Burmese kingdom included Upper and Lower Burma, Arakan and Tenasserim; besides the Court of Pagan was paramount over several feudatory Shan states, until the valleys of the Yunnanese affluents of the Irawadi to the N.E., and until Zimmé at the least to the E. Narasīhapati, the last king of Pagan who reigned over the whole of this territory, had already to fight the Talaings of the Delta and the governor of Arakan who wished to be independent, when, in 1271, he refused to receive Kúblái’s ambassadors who had come to call upon him to recognize himself as a vassal of China. The first armed conflict took place during the spring of 1277 in the Nam Ti valley; it is the battle of Nga-çaung-khyam of the Burmese Chronicles, related by Marco Polo, who, by mistake, ascribes to Nasr ed-Din the merit of this first Chinese victory. During the winter of 1277–78, a second Chinese expedition with Nasr ed-Din at its head ended with the capture of Kaung sin, the Burmese stronghold commanding the defile of Bhamo. The Pagan Yazawin is the only Burmese Chronicle giving exactly the spot of this second encounter. During these two expeditions, the invaders had not succeeded in breaking through the thick veil of numerous small thai principalities which still stand to-day between Yun Nan and Burma proper. It was only in 1283 that the final crush took place, when a third expedition, whose chief was Siang-wu-ta-eul (Singtaur), retook the fort of Kaung sin and penetrated more into the south in the Irawadi Valley, but without reaching Pagan. King Narasīhapati evacuated Pagan before the impending advancing Chinese forces and fled to the Delta. In 1285 parleys for the establishment of a Chinese Protectorship were begun; but in the following year, King Narasīhapati was poisoned at Prome by his own son Sīhasūra. In 1287, a fourth Chinese expedition, with Prince Ye-sin Timur at its head, reached at last Pagan, having suffered considerable losses.... A fifth and last Chinese expedition took place during the autumn of 1300 when the Chinese army went down the Irawadi Valley and besieged Myin-Saing during the winter of 1300–1301. The Mongol officers of the staff having been bribed the siege was raised.” (Bul. Ecole franç. Extrême-Orient, Oct.–Dec., 1909, pp. 679–680; cf. also p. 651 n.)

Huber, p. 666 n., places the battle-field of Vochan in the Nam Ti Valley; the Burmese never reached the plain of Yung Ch’ang.

LII., [p. 106 n.]

BURMA.

We shall resume from Chinese sources the history of the relations between Burma and China:

1271. Embassy of Kúblái to Mien asking for allegiance.

1273. New embassy of Kúblái.

1275. Information supplied by A-kuo, chief of Zardandan.

1277. First Chinese Expedition against Mien—Battle of Nga-çaung-khyam won by Hu Tu.

1277. Second Chinese Expedition led by Naçr ed-Din.

1283. Third Chinese Expedition led by Prince Singtaur.

1287. Fourth Chinese Expedition led by Yisun Timur; capture of Pagan.

1300–1301. Fifth Chinese Expedition; siege of Myin-saing.

Cf. E. Huber, Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, Oct.–Dec., 1909, pp. 633–680.—Visdelou, Rev. Ext. Orient, II., pp. 72–88.

LIII.–LIV., [pp. 106–108.] “After leaving the Province of which I have been speaking [Yung ch’ang] you come to a great Descent. In fact you ride for two days and a half continually down hill.... After you have ridden those two days and a half down hill, you find yourself in a province towards the south which is pretty near India, and this province is called Amien. You travel therein for fifteen days.... And when you have travelled those 15 days ... you arrive at the capital city of this Province of Mien, and it also is called Amien....”

I owe the following valuable note to Mr. Herbert Allan Ottewill, H.M.’s Vice-Consul at T’eng Yueh (11th October, 1908):

“The indications of the route are a great descent down which you ride continually for two days and a half towards the south along the main route to the capital city of Amien.

“It is admitted that the road from Yung Ch’ang to T’eng Yueh is not the one indicated. Before the Hui jen Bridge was built over the Salween in 1829, there can be no doubt that the road ran to Ta tu k’ou—great ferry place—which is about six miles below the present bridge. The distance to both places is about the same, and can easily be accomplished in two days.

“The late Mr. Litton, who was Consul here for some years, once stated that the road to La-mêng on the Salween was almost certainly the one referred to by Marco Polo as the great descent to the kingdom of Mien. His stages were from Yung Ch’ang: (1) Yin wang (? Niu wang); (2) P’ing ti; (3) Chen an so; (4) Lung Ling. The Salween was crossed on the third day at La-mêng Ferry. Yung Ch’ang is at an altitude of about 5,600 feet; the Salween at the Hui jen Bridge is about 2,400, and probably drops 200–300 feet between the bridge and La-mêng. Personally I have only been along the first stage to Niu Wang, 5,000 feet; and although aneroids proved that the highest point on the road was about 6,600, I can easily imagine a person not provided with such instruments stating that the descent was fairly gradual. From Niu Wang there must be a steady drop to the Salween, probably along the side of the stream which drains the Niu Wang Plain.

“La-mêng and Chen an so are in the territory of the Shan Sawbwa of Mang Shih [Möng Hkwan].”

“It is also a well-known fact that the Shan States of Hsen-wi (in Burma) and Meng mao (in China) fell under Chinese authority at an early date. Mr. E. H. Parker, quoted by Sir G. Scott in the Upper Burma Gazetteer, states: ‘During the reign of the Mongol Emperor Kúblái a General was sent to punish Annam and passed through this territory or parts of it called Meng tu and Meng pang,’ and secured its submission. In the year 1289 the Civil and Military Governorship of Muh Pang was established. Muh Pang is the Chinese name of Hsen-wi.

“Therefore the road from Yung Ch’ang to La-mêng fulfils the conditions of a great descent, riding two and a half days continually down hill finding oneself in a (Shan) Province to the south, besides being on a well-known road to Burma, which was probably in the thirteenth century the only road to that country.

“Fifteen days from La-mêng to Tagaung or Old Pagan is not an impossible feat. Lung Ling is reached in 1½ days, Keng Yang in four, and it is possible to do the remaining distance about a couple of hundred miles in eleven days, making fifteen in all.

“I confess I do not see how any one could march to Pagan in Latitude 21° 13′ in fifteen days.”

LIV., [p. 113.]

NGA-TSHAUNG-GYAN.

According to the late E. Huber, Ngan chen kue is not Nga-çaung-khyam, but Nga Singu, in the Mandalay district. The battle took place, not in the Yung Ch’ang plain, but in the territory of the Shan Chief of Nan-tien. The official description of China under the Ming (Ta Ming yi t’ung che, k. 87, 38 v^o) tells us that Nan-tien before its annexation by Kúblái Khan, bore the name of Nan Sung or Nang Sung, and to-day the pass which cuts this territory in the direction of T’eng Yueh is called Nang-Sung-kwan. It is hardly possible to doubt that this is the place called Nga-çaung-khyam by the Burmese Chronicles. (Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, Oct.–Dec., 1909, p. 652.)

LVI., [p. 117 n.]

A Map in the Yun Nan Topography Section 9, “Tu-ssu” or Sawbwas, marks the Kingdom of “Eight hundred wives” between the mouths of the Irrawaddy and the Salween Rivers. (Note kindly sent by Mr. H. A. Ottewill.)

LIX., [p. 128.]

CAUGIGU.

M. Georges Maspero, L’Empire Khmèr, p. 77 n., thinks that Canxigu = Luang Prabang; I read Caugigu and I believe it is a transcription of Kiao-Chi Kwé, see p. 131.

LIX., [pp. 128], [131.]

“I have identified, II., p. 131, Caugigu with Kiao-Chi kwé (Kiao Chi), i.e. Tung King.” Hirth and Rockhill (Chau Ju-kua, p. 46 n.) write: “‘Kiáu chi’ is certainly the original of Marco Polo’s Caugigu and of Rashid-eddin’s Kafchi kué.”

[1] Pen ts’ao kang mu, Ch. 25, p. 14b.

[2] Regarding this name and its history, see Pelliot, Journ. Asiatique, 1912, I., p. 582. Qara Khodja was celebrated for its abundance of grapes. (Bretschneider, Mediæval Res., I., p. 65.) J. Dudgeon (The Beverages of the Chinese, p. 27) misreading it Ha-so-hwo, took it for the designation of a sort of wine. Stuart (Chinese Materia Medica, p. 459) mistakes it for a transliteration of “hollands,” or may be “alcohol.” The latter word has never penetrated into China in any form.

[3] This work is also the first that contains the word a-la-ki, from Arabic ’araq. (See T’oung Pao, 1916, p, 483.)

[4] A range of mountains separating Shan Si from Chi li and Ho Nan.

[5] This is probably a phantasy. We can make nothing of it, as it is not stated how the adulterated wine was made.

[6] This possibly is the earliest Chinese allusion to alcohol.

BOOK SECOND.—CONTINUED.

PART III.—JOURNEY SOUTHWARD THROUGH EASTERN PROVINCES OF CATHAY AND MANZI.

LX., [p. 133.]

CH’ANG LU.

The Rev. A. C. Moule (T’oung Pao, July, 1915, p. 417) says that “Ciang lu [Ch’ang-lu] was not, I think, identical with Ts’ang chou,” but does not give any reason in support of this opinion.

CH’ANG LU SALT.

“To this day the sole name for this industry, the financial centre of which is T’ien Tsin, is the ‘Ch’ang-lu Superintendency.’” (E. H. Parker, As. Quart. Review, Jan., 1904, p. 147.) “The ‘Ch’ang-lu,’ or Long Reed System, derives its name from the city Ts’ang chou, on the Grand Canal (south of T’ientsin), once so called. In 1285 Kúblái Khan ‘once more divided the Ho-kien (Chih-li) and Shan Tung interests,’ which, as above explained, are really one in working principle. There is now a First Class Commissary at T’ientsin, with sixteen subordinates, and the Viceroy (who until recent years resided at Pao ting fu) has nominal supervision.” (Parker, China, 1901, pp. 223–4.)

“Il y a 10 groupes de salines, Tch’ang, situés dans les districts de Fou ning hien, Lo t’ing hien, Loan tcheou, Fong joen hien, Pao tch’e hien, T’ien tsin hien, Tsing hai hien, Ts’ang tcheou et Yen chan hien. Il y a deux procédés employés pour la fabrication du sel: 1^o On étale sur un sol uni des cendres d’herbes venues dans un terrain salé et on les arrose d’eau de mer; le liquide qui s’en écoule, d’une densité suffisante pour faire flotter un œuf de poule ou des graines de nénuphar, Che lien, est chauffé pendant 24 heures avec de ces mêmes herbes employées comme combustible, et le sel se dépose. Les cendres des herbes servent à une autre opération. 2^o L’eau de mer est simplement évaporée au soleil.... L’administrateur en chef de ce commerce est le Vice-roi même de la province de Tche-li.” (P. Hoang, Sel, Variétés Sinologiques, No. 15, p. 3.)

LXI., [pp. 136], [138.]

SANGON—T’SIANG KIUN.

“Le titre chinois de tsiang kiun ‘général’ apparaît toujours dans les inscriptions de l’Orkhon sous la forme säṅün, et dans les manuscrits turcs de Tourfan on trouve sangun; ces formes avaient prévalu en Asie centrale et c’est à elles que répond le sangon de Marco Polo” (éd. Yule-Cordier, II., 136, 138). Pelliot, Kao tch’ang, J. As., Mai–Juin, 1912, p. 584 n.

LXI., [p. 138.]

LITAN.

“For Li T’an’s rebellion and the siege of Ts’i-nan, see the Yüan Shih, c. v, fol. 1, 2; c. ccvi, fol. 2r^o; and c. cxviii, fol. 5r^o. From the last passage it appears that Aibuga, the father of King George of Tenduc, took some part in the siege. Prince Ha-pi-ch’i and Shih T’ien-tsê, but not, that I have seen, Agul or Mangutai, are mentioned in the Yüan Shih.” (A. C. Moule, T’oung Pao, July, 1915, p. 417.)

LXII., [p. 139.]

SINJUMATU.

This is Ts’i ning chau. “Sinjumatu was on a navigable stream, as Marco Polo expressly states and as its name implies. It was not long after 1276, as we learn from the Yüan Shih (lxiv), that Kúblái carried out very extensive improvements in the waterways of this very region, and there is nothing improbable in the supposition that the ma-t’ou or landing-place had moved up to the more important town, so that the name of Chi chou had become in common speech Sinjumatu (Hsin-chou-ma-t’ou) by the time that Marco Polo got to know the place.” (A. C. Moule, Marco Polo’s Sinjumatu, T’oung Pao, July, 1912, pp. 431–3.)

LXII., [p. 139 n.]

GREAT CANAL.

“Et si voz di qu’il ont un fluns dou quel il ont grant profit et voz dirai comant. Il est voir qe ceste grant fluns vient de ver midi jusque à ceste cité de Singuimatu, et les homes de la ville cest grant fluns en ont fait deus: car il font l’une moitié aler ver levant, et l’autre moitié aler ver ponent: ce est qe le un vait au Mangi, et le autre por le Catai. Et si voz di por verité que ceste ville a si grant navile, ce est si grant quantité, qe ne est nul qe ne veisse qe peust croire. Ne entendés qe soient grant nés, mès eles sunt tel come besogne au grant fluns, et si voz di qe ceste naville portent au Mangi e por le Catai si grant abondance de mercandies qe ce est mervoille; et puis quant elles revienent, si tornent encore cargies, et por ce est merveieliosse chouse à veoir la mercandie qe por celle fluns se porte sus et jus.” (Marco Polo, Soc. de Geog., p. 152.)

LXIV., [p. 144.]

CAIJU.

The Rev. A. C. Moule writes (T’oung Pao, July, 1915, p. 415): “Hai chou is the obvious though by no means perfectly satisfactory equivalent of Caigiu. For it stands not on, but thirty or forty miles from, the old bed of the river. A place which answers better as regards position is Ngan tung which was a chou (giu) in the Sung and Yuan Dynasties. The Kuang-yü-hsing-shêng, Vol. II., gives Hai Ngan as the old name of Ngan Tung in the Eastern Wei Dynasty.”

LXIV., [p. 144 n.]

“La voie des transports du tribut n’était navigable que de Hang tcheou au fleuve Jaune, [Koublai] la continua jusqu’auprès de sa capitale. Les travaux commencèrent en 1289 et trois ans après on en faisait l’ouverture. C’était un ruban de plus de (1800) mille huit cents li (plus de 1000 kil.). L’étendue de ce Canal, qui mérite bien d’être appelé impérial (Yu ho), de Hang Tcheou à Peking, mesure près de trois mille li, c’est-à-dire plus de quatre cents lieues.” Gandar, Le Canal Impérial, 1894, pp. 21–22. Kwa Chau (Caiju), formerly at the head of the Grand Canal on the Kiang, was destroyed by the erosions of the river.

LXV., [p. 148 n.]

Instead of Kotan, note 1, read Kitan. “The ceremony of leading a sheep was insisted on in 926, when the Tungusic-Corean King of Puh-hai (or Manchuria) surrendered, and again in 946, when the puppet Chinese Emperor of the Tsin Dynasty gave in his submission to the Kitans.” (E. H. Parker, As. Quart. Rev., January, 1904, p. 140.)

LXV., [p. 149.]

LIN NGAN.

It is interesting to note that the spoils of Lin Ngan carried to Khan Balig were the beginning of the Imperial Library, increased by the documents of the Yuen, the Ming, and finally the Ts’ing; it is noteworthy that during the rebellion of Li Tze-ch’eng, the library was spared, though part of the palace was burnt. See N. Peri, Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, Jan.–June, 1911, p. 190.

LXVIII., [p. 154 n.]

YANJU.

Regarding Kingsmill’s note, Mr. John C. Ferguson writes in the Journal North China Branch Roy. As. Soc., XXXVII., 1906, p. 190: “It is evident that Tiju and Yanju have been correctly identified as Taichow and Yangchow. I cannot agree with Mr. Kingsmill, however, in identifying Tinju as Ichin-hien on the Great River. It is not probable that Polo would mention Ichin twice, once before reaching Yangchow and once after describing Yangchow. I am inclined to believe that Tinju is Hsien-nü-miao 仙女廟, a large market-place which has close connection both with Taichow and Yangchow. It is also an important place for the collection of the revenue on salt, as Polo notices. This identification of Tinju with Hsien-nü-miao would clear up any uncertainty as to Polo’s journey, and would make a natural route for Polo to take from Kao yu to Yangchow if he wished to see an important place between these two cities.”

LXVIII., [p. 154.]

YANG CHAU.

In a text of the Yuen tien chang, dated 1317, found by Prof. Pelliot, mention is made of a certain Ngao-la-han [Abraham?] still alive at Yang chau, who was, according to the text, the son of the founder of the Church of the Cross of the ãrkägün (Ye-li-k’o-wen she-tze-sze), one of the three Nestorian churches of Yang-chau mentioned by Odoric and omitted by Marco Polo. Cf. Cathay, II., p. 210, and Pelliot, T’oung Pao, 1914, p. 638.

LXX., [p. 167.]

SIEGE OF SAIANFU.

Prof. E. H. Parker writes in the Journ. of the North China Branch of the Roy. As. Soc., XXXVII., 1906, p. 195: “Colonel Yule’s note requires some amendment, and he has evidently been misled by the French translations. The two Mussulmans who assisted Kúblái with guns were not ‘A-la-wa-ting of Mu-fa-li and Ysemain of Huli or Hiulie,’ but A-la-pu-tan of Mao-sa-li and Y-sz-ma-yin of Shih-la. Shih-la is Shiraz, the Serazy of Marco Polo, and Mao-sa-li is Mosul. Bretschneider cites the facts in his Mediæval Notes, and seems to have used another edition, giving the names as A-lao-wa-ting of Mu-fa-li and Y-sz-ma-yin of Hü-lieh; but even he points out that Hulagu is meant, i.e. ‘a man from Hulagu’s country.’”

LXX., [p. 169.]

“P’AO.”

“Captain Gill’s testimony as to the ancient ‘guns’ used by the Chinese is, of course (as, in fact, he himself states), second-hand and hearsay. In Vol. XXIV. of the China Review I have given the name and date of a General who used p’ao so far back as the seventh century.” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, pp. 146–7.)

LXXIV., [p. 179 n.]

THE ALANS.

According to the Yuen Shi and Devéria, Journ. Asiat., Nov.–Dec., 1896, 432, in 1229 and 1241, when Okkodai’s army reached the country of the Aas (Alans), their chief submitted at once and a body of one thousand Alans were kept for the private guard of the Great Khan; Mangu enlisted in his bodyguard half the troops of the Alan Prince, Arslan, whose younger son Nicholas took a part in the expedition of the Mongols against Karajang (Yun Nan). This Alan imperial guard was still in existence in 1272, 1286, and 1309, and it was divided into two corps with headquarters in the Ling pei province (Karakorúm). See also Bretschneider, Mediæval Researches, II., pp. 84–90.

The massacre of a body of Christian Alans related by Marco Polo (II., p. 178) is confirmed by Chinese sources.

LXXIV., [p. 180, n. 3.]

ALANS.

See Notes in new edition of Cathay and the Way thither, III., pp. 179 seq., 248.

The massacre of the Alans took place, according to Chinese sources, at Chen-ch’ao, not at Ch’ang chau. The Sung general who was in charge of the city, Hung Fu, after making a faint submission, got the Alans drunk at night and had them slaughtered. Cf. Pelliot, Chrétiens d’Asie centrale et d’Extrême-Orient, T’oung Pao, Dec., 1914, p. 641.

LXXVI., [pp. 184–5.]

VUJU, VUGHIN, CHANGAN.

The Rev. A. C. Moule has given in the T’oung Pao, July, 1915, pp. 393 seq., the Itinerary between Lin Ngan (Hang Chau) and Shang Tu, followed by the Sung Dynasty officials who accompanied their Empress Dowager to the Court of Kúblái after the fall of Hang Chau in 1276; the diary was written by Yen Kwang-ta, a native of ShaoHKing, who was attached to the party.

The Rev. A. C. Moule in his notes writes, p. 411: “The connexion between Hu-chou and Hang-chou is very intimate, and the north suburb of the latter, the Hu-shu, was known in Marco Polo’s day as the Hu-chou shih. The identification of Vughin with Wu-chiang is fairly satisfactory, but it is perhaps worth while to point out that there is a place called Wu chên about fifty li north of Shih-mên; and for Ciangan there is a tempting place called Ch’ang-an chên just south of Shih-mên on a canal which was often preferred to the T’ang-hsi route until the introduction of steam boats.”

LXXVI., [p. 192.] “There is one church only [at Kinsay], belonging to the Nestorian Christians.”

It was one of the seven churches built in China by Mar Sarghis, called Ta p’u hing sze (Great Temple of Universal Success), or Yang yi Hu-mu-la, near the Tsien k’iao men. Cf. Marco Polo, II., p. 177; Vissière, Rev. du Monde Musulman, March, 1913, p. 8.

LXXVI., [p. 193.]

KINSAY.

Chinese Atlas in the Magliabecchian Library.

The Rev. A. C. Moule has devoted a long note to this Atlas in the Journ. R. As. Soc., July, 1919, pp. 393–395. He has come to the conclusion that the Atlas is no more nor less than the Kuang yü t’u, and that it seems that Camse stands neither for Ching-shih, as Yule thought, nor for Hang chau as he, Moule, suggested in 1917, but simply for the province of Kiangsi. (A Note on the Chinese Atlas in the Magliabecchian Library, with reference to Kinsay in Marco Polo.)

Mr. P. von Tanner, Commissioner of Customs at Hang chau, wrote in 1901 in the Decennial Reports, 1892–1901, of the Customs, p. 4: “While Hangchow owes its fame to the lake on the west, it certainly owes its existence towards the south-west to the construction of the sea wall, called by the Chinese by the appropriate name of bore wall. The erection of this sea wall was commenced about the year A.D. 915, by Prince Ts’ien Wu-su; it extends from Hang Chau to Chuan sha, near the opening of the Hwang pu.... The present sea wall, in its length of 180 miles, was built. The wall is a stupendous piece of work, and should take an equal share of fame with the Grand Canal and the Great Wall of China, as its engineering difficulties were certainly infinitely greater.... The fact that Marco Polo does not mention it shows almost conclusively that he never visited Hang Chau, but got his account from a Native poet. He must have taken it, besides, without the proverbial grain of salt, and without eliminating the over-numerous ‘thousands’ and ‘myriads’ prompted less by facts than by patriotic enthusiasm and poetical licence.”

LXXVI., [p. 194 n.]

BRIDGES OF KINSAY.

In the heart of Hang-chau, one of the bridges spanning the canal which divides into two parts the walled city from north to south is called Hwei Hwei k’iao (Bridge of the Mohamedans) or Hwei Hwei Sin k’iao (New Bridge of the Mohamedans), while its literary name is Tsi Shan k’iao (Bridge of Accumulated Wealth); it is situated between the Tsien k’iao on the south and the Fung lo k’iao on the north. Near the Tsi Shan k’iao was a mosk, and near the Tsien k’iao, at the time of the Yuen, there existed Eight Pavilions (Pa kien lew) inhabited by wealthy Mussulmans. Mohamedans from Arabia and Turkestan were sent by the Yuen to Hang-chau; they had prominent noses, did not eat pork, and were called So mu chung (Coloured-eye race). Vissière, Rev. du Monde Musulman, March, 1913.

LXXVI., [p. 199.]

KINSAY, KHANFU.

Pelliot proposes to see in Khanfu a transcription of Kwang-fu, an abridgment of Kwang chau fu, prefecture of Kwang chau (Canton). Cf. Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, Jan.–June, 1904, p. 215 n., but I cannot very well accept this theory.

LXXX., [pp. 225, 226.] “They have also [in Fu Kien] a kind of fruit resembling saffron, and which serves the purpose of saffron just as well.”

Dr. Laufer writes to me: “Yule’s identification with a species of Gardenia is all right, although this is not peculiar to Fu Kien. Another explanation, however, is possible. In fact, the Chinese speak of a certain variety of saffron peculiar to Fu Kien. The Pen ts’ao kang mu shi i (Ch. 4, p. 14 b) contains the description of a ‘native saffron’ (t’u hung hwa, in opposition to the ‘Tibetan red flower’ or genuine saffron) after the Continued Gazetteer of Fu Kien, as follows: ‘As regards the native saffron, the largest specimens are seven or eight feet high. The leaves are like those of the p’i-p’a (Eriobotrya japonica), but smaller and without hair. In the autumn it produces a white flower like a grain of maize (Su-mi, Zea mays). It grows in Fu Chou and Nan Ngen Chou (now Yang Kiang in Kwang Tung) in the mountain wilderness. That of Fu Chou makes a fine creeper, resembling the fu-yung (Hibiscus mutabilis), green above and white below, the root being like that of the ko (Pachyrhizus thunbergianus). It is employed in the pharmacopeia, being finely chopped for this purpose and soaked overnight in water in which rice has been scoured; then it is soaked for another night in pure water and pounded: thus it is ready for prescriptions.’ This plant, as far as I know, has not yet been identified, but it may well be identical with Polo’s saffron of Fu Kien.”

LXXX., [pp. 226], [229 n.]

THE SILKY FOWLS OF MARCO POLO.

Tarradale, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire, May 10, 1915.

In a letter lately received from my cousin Mr. George Udny Yule (St. John’s College, Cambridge) he makes a suggestion which seems to me both probable and interesting. As he is at present too busy to follow up the question himself, I have asked permission to publish his suggestion in The Athenæum, with the hope that some reader skilled in mediæval French and Italian may be able to throw light on the subject.

Mr. Yule writes as follows:—

“The reference [to these fowls] in ‘Marco Polo’ (p. 226 of the last edition; not p. 126 as stated in the index) is a puzzle, owing to the statement that they are black all over. A black has, I am told, been recently created, but the common breed is white, as stated in the note and by Friar Odoric.

“It has occurred to me as a possibility that what Marco Polo may have meant to say was that they were black all through, or some such phrase. The flesh of these fowls is deeply pigmented, and looks practically black; it is a feature that is very remarkable, and would certainly strike any one who saw it. The details that they ‘lay eggs just like our fowls,’ i.e., not pigmented, and are ‘very good to eat,’ are facts that would naturally deserve especial mention in this connexion. Mr. A. D. Darbishire (of Oxford and Edinburgh University) tells me that is quite correct: the flesh look horrid, but it is quite good eating. Do any texts suggest the possibility of such a reading as I suggest?”

The references in the above quotation are, of course, to my father’s version of Marco Polo. That his nephew should make this interesting little contribution to the subject would have afforded him much gratification.

A. F. Yule.

The Athenæum, No. 4570, May 29, 1915, p. 485.

LXXX., [pp. 226, 230.]

SUGAR.

“I may observe that the Pêh Shï (or ‘Northern Dynasties History’) speaks of a large consumption of sugar in Cambodgia as far back as the fifth century of our era. There can be no mistake about the meaning of the words sha-t’ang, which are still used both in China and Japan (sa-tō). The ‘History of the T’ang Dynasty,’ in its chapter on Magadha, says that in the year 627 the Chinese Emperor ‘sent envoys thither to procure the method of boiling out sugar, and then ordered the Yang-chou sugar-cane growers to press it out in the same way, when it appeared that both in colour and taste ours excelled that of the Western Regions’ [of which Magadha was held to be part].” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 146.)

ZAITUN.

LXXXII., [p. 237.]

M. G. Ferrand remarks that Tze tung = زيتون, zītūn in Arabic, inexactly read Zaytūn, on account of its similitude with its homonym زيتون, zaytūn, olive. (Relat de Voy., I., p. 11.)

LXXXII., [pp. 242–245.]

“Perhaps it may not be generally known that in the dialect of Foochow Ts’uän-chou and Chang-chou are at the present day pronounced in exactly the same way—i.e., ‘Chiong-chiu,’ and it is by no means impossible that Marco Polo’s Tyunju is an attempt to reproduce this sound, especially as, coming to Zaitun viâ Foochow, he would probably first hear the Foochow pronunciation.” (E. H. Parker, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 148)