BOOK FOURTH.
WARS AMONG THE TARTAR PRINCES
AND
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES
Note.—A considerable number of the quasi-historical chapters in this section (which I have followed M. Pauthier in making into a Fourth Book) are the merest verbiage and repetition of narrative formulæ without the slightest value. I have therefore thought it undesirable to print all at length, and have given merely the gist (marked thus ⚜), or an extract, of such chapters. They will be found entire in English in H. Murray’s and Wright’s editions, and in the original French in the edition of the Société de Géographie, in Bartoli, and in Pauthier.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
Concerning Great Turkey.
In Great Turkey there is a king called Caidu, who is the Great Kaan’s nephew, for he was the grandson of Chagatai, the Great Kaan’s own brother. He hath many cities and castles, and is a great Prince. He and his people are Tartars alike; and they are good soldiers, for they are constantly engaged in war.[{1}]
Now this King Caidu is never at peace with his uncle the Great Kaan, but ever at deadly war with him, and he hath fought great battles with the Kaan’s armies. The quarrel between them arose out of this, that Caidu demanded from the Great Kaan the share of his father’s conquests that of right belonged to him; and in particular he demanded a share of the Provinces of Cathay and Manzi. The Great Kaan replied that he was willing enough to give him a share such as he gave to his own sons, but that he must first come on summons to the Council at the Kaan’s Court, and present himself as one of the Kaan’s liegemen. Caidu, who did not trust his uncle very far, declined to come, but said that where he was he would hold himself ready to obey all the Kaan’s commands.
In truth, as he had several times been in revolt, he dreaded that the Kaan might take the opportunity to destroy him. So, out of this quarrel between them, there arose a great war, and several great battles were fought by the host of Caidu against the host of the Great Kaan, his uncle. And the Great Kaan from year’s end to year’s end keeps an army watching all Caidu’s frontier, lest he should make forays on his dominions. He, natheless, will never cease his aggressions on the Great Kaan’s territory, and maintains a bold face to his enemies.[{2}]
Indeed, he is so potent that he can well do so; for he can take the field with 100,000 horse, all stout soldiers and inured to war. He has also with him several Barons of the imperial lineage; i.e., of the family of Chinghis Kaan, who was the first of their lords, and conquered a great part of the world, as I have told you more particularly in a former part of this Book.
Now you must know that Great Turkey lies towards the north-west when you travel from Hormos by that road I described. It begins on the further bank of the River Jon,[1] and extends northward to the territory of the Great Kaan.
Now I shall tell you of sundry battles that the troops of Caidu fought with the armies of the Great Kaan.
[Note 1.]—We see that Polo’s error as to the relationship between Kúblái and Kaidu, and as to the descent of the latter (see vol. i. p. 186) was not a slip, but persistent. The name of Kaidu’s grandfather is here in the G. T. written precisely Chagatai (Ciagatai).
Kaidu was the son of Kashin, son of Okkodai, who was the third son of Chinghiz and his successor in the Kaanate. Kaidu never would acknowledge the supremacy of Kúblái, alleging his own superior claim to the Kaanate, which Chinghiz was said to have restricted to the house of Okkodai as long as it should have a representative. From the vicinity of Kaidu’s position to the territories occupied by the branch of Chaghatai he exercised great influence over its princes, and these were often his allies in the constant hostilities that he maintained against the Kaan. Such circumstances may have led Polo to confound Kaidu with the house of Chaghatai. Indeed, it is not easy to point out the mutual limits of their territories, and these must have been somewhat complex, for we find Kaidu and Borrak Khan of Chaghatai at one time exercising a kind of joint sovereignty in the cities of Bokhara and Samarkand. Probably, indeed, the limits were in a great measure tribal rather than territorial. But it may be gathered that Kaidu’s authority extended over Kashgar and the cities bordering the south slopes of the Thian Shan as far east as Kara Khoja, also the valley of the Talas River, and the country north of the Thian Shan from Lake Balkhash eastward to the vicinity of Barkul, and in the further north the country between the Upper Yenisei and the Irtish.
Kaidu died in 1301 at a very great age. He had taken part, it was said, in 41 pitched battles. He left 14 sons (some accounts say 40), of whom the eldest, called Shabar, succeeded him. He joined Dua Khan of Chaghatai in making submission to Teimur Kaan, the successor of Kúblái; but before long, on a quarrel occurring between the two former, Dua seized the territory of Shabar, and as far as I can learn no more is heard of the house of Kaidu. Vámbéry seems to make the Khans of Khokand to be of the stock of Kaidu; but whether they claim descent from Yúnus Khán, as he says, or from a son of Baber left behind in his flight from Ferghána, as Pandit Manphúl states, the genealogy would be from Chaghatai, not from Kaidu.
[Note 2.]—“To the N.N.W. a desert of 40 days’ extent divides the states of Kúblái from those of Kaidu and Dua. This frontier extends for 30 days’ journey from east to west. From point to point,” etc.; see continuation of this quotation from Rashíduddín, in vol. i. p. 214.
[1] The Jaihún or Oxus.
CHAPTER II.
Of certain Battles that were Fought by King Caidu Against the Armies of his Uncle the Great Kaan.
Now it came to pass in the year of Christ’s incarnation, 1266, that this King Caidu and another prince called Yesudar, who was his cousin, assembled a great force and made an expedition to attack two of the Great Kaan’s Barons who held lands under the Great Kaan, but were Caidu’s own kinsmen, for they were sons of Chagatai who was a baptized Christian, and own brother to the Great Kaan; one of them was called Chibai, and the other Chiban.[{1}]
Caidu with all his host, amounting to 60,000 horse, engaged the Kaan’s two Barons, those cousins of his, who had also a great force amounting to more than 60,000 horsemen, and there was a great battle. In the end the Barons were beaten, and Caidu and his people won the day. Great numbers were slain on both sides, but the two brother Barons escaped, thanks to their good horses. So King Caidu returned home swelling the more with pride and arrogance, and for the next two years he remained at peace, and made no further war against the Kaan.
However, at the end of those two years King Caidu assembled an army composed of a vast force of horsemen. He knew that at Caracoron was the Great Kaan’s son Nomogan, and with him George, the grandson of Prester John. These two princes had also a great force of cavalry. And when King Caidu was ready he set forth and crossed the frontier. After marching rapidly without any adventure, he got near Caracoron, where the Kaan’s son and the younger Prester John were awaiting him with their great army, for they were well aware of Caidu’s advance in force. They made them ready for battle like valiant men, and all undismayed, seeing that they had more than 60,000 well-appointed horsemen. And when they heard Caidu was so near they went forth valiantly to meet him. When they got within some 10 miles of him they pitched their tents and got ready for battle, and the enemy who were about equal in numbers did the same; each side forming in six columns of 10,000 men with good captains. Both sides were well equipped with swords and maces and shields, with bows and arrows, and other arms after their fashion. You must know that the practice of the Tartars going to battle is to take each a bow and 60 arrows. Of these, 30 are light with small sharp points, for long shots and following up an enemy, whilst the other 30 are heavy, with large broad heads which they shoot at close quarters, and with which they inflict great gashes on face and arms, and cut the enemy’s bowstrings, and commit great havoc. This every one is ordered to attend to. And when they have shot away their arrows they take to their swords and maces and lances, which also they ply stoutly.
So when both sides were ready for action the Naccaras began to sound loudly, one on either side. For ’tis their custom never to join battle till the Great Naccara is beaten. And when the Naccaras sounded, then the battle began in fierce and deadly style, and furiously the one host dashed to meet the other. So many fell on either side that in an evil hour for both it was begun! The earth was thickly strewn with the wounded and the slain, men and horses, whilst the uproar and din of battle was so loud you would not have heard God’s thunder! Truly King Caidu himself did many a deed of prowess that strengthened the hearts of his people. Nor less on the other side did the Great Kaan’s son and Prester John’s grandson, for well they proved their valour in the medley, and did astonishing feats of arms, leading their troops with right good judgment.
And what shall I tell you? The battle lasted so long that it was one of the hardest the Tartars ever fought. Either side strove hard to bring the matter to a point and rout the enemy, but to no avail. And so the battle went on till vesper-tide, and without victory on either side. Many a man fell there; many a child was made an orphan there; many a lady widowed; and many another woman plunged in grief and tears for the rest of her days, I mean the mothers and the araines of those who fell.[{2}]
So when they had fought till the sun was low they left off, and retired each side to its tents. Those who were unhurt were so dead tired that they were like to drop, and the wounded, who were many on both sides, were moaning in their various degrees of pain; but all were more fit for rest than fighting, so gladly they took their repose that night. And when morning approached, King Caidu, who had news from his scouts that the Great Kaan was sending a great army to reinforce his son, judged that it was time to be off; so he called his host to saddle and mounted his horse at dawn, and away they set on their return to their own country. And when the Great Kaan’s son and the grandson of Prester John saw that King Caidu had retired with all his host, they let them go unpursued, for they were themselves sorely fatigued and needed rest. So King Caidu and his host rode and rode, till they came to their own realm of Great Turkey and to Samarcand; and there they abode a long while without again making war.[{3}]
[Note 1.]—The names are uncertain. The G. T. has “one of whom was called Tibai or Ciban”; Pauthier, as in the text.
The phrase about their being Kaidu’s kinsmen is in the G. T., “qe zinzinz (?) meisme estoient de Caidu roi.”
[Note 2.]—Araines for Haríms, I presume. In the narrative of a merchant in Ramusio (II. 84, 86) we find the same word represented by Arin and Arino.
[Note 3.]—The date at the beginning of the chapter is in G. T., and Pauthier’s MS. A, as we have given it. Pauthier substitutes 1276, as that seems to be the date approximately connecting Prince Numughan with the wars against Kaidu. In 1275 Kúblái appointed Numughan to the command of his N.W. frontier, with Ngantung or ’Antung, an able general, to assist him in repelling the aggressions of Kaidu. In the same year Kaidu and Dua Khan entered the Uighúr country (W. and N.W. of Kamul), with more than 100,000 men. Two years later, viz., in 1277, Kaidu and Shireghi, a son of Mangu Khan, engaged near Almalik (on the Ili) the troops of Kúblái, commanded by Numughan and ’Antung, and took both of them prisoners. The invaders then marched towards Karakorum. But Bayan, who was in Mongolia, marched to attack them, and completely defeated them in several engagements. (Gaubil, 69, 168, 182.)
Pauthier gives a little more detail from the Chinese annals, but throws no new light on the discrepancies which we see between Polo’s account and theirs. ’Antung, who was the grandson of Mokli, the Jelair, one of Chinghiz’s Orlok or Marshals, seems here to take the place assigned to Prester John’s grandson, and Shireghi perhaps that of Yesudar. The only prince of the latter name that I can find is a son of Hulaku’s.
The description of the battle in this chapter is a mere formula again and again repeated. The armies are always exactly or nearly equal, they are always divided into corps of 10,000 (tomans), they always halt to prepare for action when within ten miles of one another, and the terms used in describing the fight are the same. We shall not inflict these tiresome repetitions again on the reader.
CHAPTER III.
What the Great Kaan said to the mischief done by Kaidu his nephew.
⚜ (That were Caidu not of his own Imperial blood, he would make an utter end of him, &c.)
CHAPTER IV.
Of the Exploits of King Caidu’s valiant Daughter.
Now you must know that King Caidu had a daughter whose name was Aijaruc, which in the Tartar is as much as to say “The Bright Moon.” This damsel was very beautiful, but also so strong and brave that in all her father’s realm there was no man who could outdo her in feats of strength. In all trials she showed greater strength than any man of them.[{1}]
Her father often desired to give her in marriage, but she would none of it. She vowed she would never marry till she found a man who could vanquish her in every trial; him she would wed and none else. And when her father saw how resolute she was, he gave a formal consent in their fashion, that she should marry whom she list and when she list. The lady was so tall and muscular, so stout and shapely withal, that she was almost like a giantess. She had distributed her challenges over all the kingdoms, declaring that whosoever should come to try a fall with her, it should be on these conditions, viz., that if she vanquished him she should win from him 100 horses, and if he vanquished her he should win her to wife. Hence many a noble youth had come to try his strength against her, but she beat them all; and in this way she had won more than 10,000 horses.
Now it came to pass in the year of Christ 1280 that there presented himself a noble young gallant, the son of a rich and puissant king, a man of prowess and valiance and great strength of body, who had heard word of the damsel’s challenge, and came to match himself against her in the hope of vanquishing her and winning her to wife. That he greatly desired, for the young lady was passing fair. He, too, was young and handsome, fearless and strong in every way, insomuch that not a man in all his father’s realm could vie with him. So he came full confidently, and brought with him 1000 horses to be forfeited if she should vanquish him. Thus might she gain 1000 horses at a single stroke! But the young gallant had such confidence in his own strength that he counted securely to win her.
Now ye must know that King Caidu and the Queen his wife, the mother of the stout damsel, did privily beseech their daughter to let herself be vanquished. For they greatly desired this prince for their daughter, seeing what a noble youth he was, and the son of a great king. But the damsel answered that never would she let herself be vanquished if she could help it; if, indeed, he should get the better of her then she would gladly be his wife, according to the wager, but not otherwise.
So a day was named for a great gathering at the Palace of King Caidu, and the King and Queen were there. And when all the company were assembled, for great numbers flocked to see the match, the damsel first came forth in a strait jerkin of sammet; and then came forth the young bachelor in a jerkin of sendal; and a winsome sight they were to see. When both had taken post in the middle of the hall they grappled each other by the arms and wrestled this way and that, but for a long time neither could get the better of the other. At last, however, it so befel that the damsel threw him right valiantly on the palace pavement. And when he found himself thus thrown, and her standing over him, great indeed was his shame and discomfiture. He gat him up straightway, and without more ado departed with all his company, and returned to his father, full of shame and vexation, that he who had never yet found a man that could stand before him should have been thus worsted by a girl! And his 1000 horses he left behind him.
As to King Caidu and his wife they were greatly annoyed, as I can tell you; for if they had had their will this youth should have won their daughter.
And ye must know that after this her father never went on a campaign but she went with him. And gladly he took her, for not a knight in all his train played such feats of arms as she did. Sometimes she would quit her father’s side, and make a dash at the host of the enemy, and seize some man thereout, as deftly as a hawk pounces on a bird, and carry him to her father; and this she did many a time.
Now I will leave this story and tell you of a great battle that Caidu fought with Argon the son of Abaga, Lord of the Tartars of the Levant.
[Note 1.]—The name of the lady is in Pauthier’s MSS. Agiaint, Agyanie; in the Bern, Agyanic; in the MS. of the G. T., distinctly Aigiaruc, though printed in the edition of 1824 as Aigiarm. It is Oriental Turkish, Ai-Yárúḳ, signifying precisely Lucent Lune, as Marco explains it. For this elucidation I am indebted to the kindness of Professor Vámbéry, who adds that the name is in actual use among the Uzbek women.
Kaidu had many sons, but only one daughter, whom Rashiduddin (who seems to be Hammer’s authority here) calls Kutulun. Her father loved her above all his sons; she used to accompany him to the field, and aid in state affairs. Letters were exchanged between her and Gházán Khan, in which she assured him she would marry no one else; but her father refused her hand to all suitors. After Kaidu’s death, this ambitious lady made some attempt to claim the succession. (Hammer’s Ilkhans, II. 143–144.)
The story has some resemblance to what Ibn Batuta relates of another warlike Princess, Urdúja, whom he professes to have visited in the questionable kingdom of Tawálisi on his way to China: “I heard ... that various sons of kings had sought Urduja’s hand, but she always answered, ‘I will marry no one but him who shall fight and conquer me’; so they all avoided the trail, for fear of the shame of being beaten by her.” (I. B. IV. 253–254.) I have given reasons (Cathay, p. 520) for suspecting that this lady with a Turkish name in the Indian Archipelago is a bit of fiction. Possibly Ibn Batuta had heard the legend of King Kaidu’s daughter.
The story of Kaidu’s daughter, and still more the parallel one from Ibn Batuta, recall what Herodotus tells of the Sauromatae, who had married the Amazons; that no girl was permitted to marry till she had killed an enemy (IV. 117). They recall still more closely Brunhild, in the Nibelungen:—
——“a royal maiden who reigned beyond the sea:
From sunrise to the sundown no paragon had she.
All boundless as her beauty was her strength was peerless too,
And evil plight hung o’er the knight who dared her love to woo.
For he must try three bouts with her; the whirling spear to fling;
To pitch the massive stone; and then to follow with a spring;
And should he beat in every feat his wooing well has sped,
But he who fails must lose his love, and likewise lose his head.”
CHAPTER V.
How Abaga sent his Son Argon in command against King Caidu.
Abaga the Lord of the Levant had many districts and provinces bordering on King Caidu’s territories. These lay in the direction of the Arbre Sol, which the Book of Alexander calls the Arbre Sec, about which I have told you before. And Abaga, to watch against forays by Caidu’s people sent his son Argon with a great force of horsemen, to keep the marches between the Arbre Sec and the River Jon. So there tarried Argon with all his host.[{1}]
Now it came to pass that King Caidu assembled a great army and made captain thereof a brother of his called Barac, a brave and prudent man, and sent his host under his brother to fight with Argon.[{2}]
⚜ (Barac and his army cross the Jon or Oxus and are totally routed by Argon, to whose history the traveller now turns.)
[Note 1.]—The Government of this frontier, from Kazwin or Rei to the banks of the Oxus, was usually, under the Mongol sovereigns of Persia, confided to the heir of the throne. Thus, under Hulaku it was held by Ábáká, under Ábáká by Arghún, and under Arghún by Gházán. (See Hammer, passim.)
We have already spoken amply of the Arbre Sol (vol. i. p. 128 seqq.).
[Note 2.]—Barac or Borrak, who has been already spoken of in ch. iii. of the Prologue (vol. i. p. 10), was no brother of Kaidu’s. He was the head of the house of Chaghatai, and in alliance with Kaidu. The invasion of Khorasan by Borrak took place in the early part of 1269. Arghún was only about 15, and his father Ábáká came to take the command in person. The battle seems to have been fought somewhere near the upper waters of the Murghab, in the territory of the Badghís (north of Herat). Borrak was not long after driven from power, and took refuge with Kaidu. He died, it is said from poison, in 1270.
CHAPTER VI.
How Argon after the Battle heard that his Father was dead, and went to assume the Sovereignty as was his right.
After Argon had gained this battle over Caidu’s brother Barac and his host, no long time passed before he had news that his father Abaga was dead, whereat he was sorely grieved.[{1}] He made ready his army and set out for his father’s Court to assume the sovereignty as was his right; but he had a march of 40 days to reach it.
Now it befel that an uncle of Argon’s whose name was Acomat Soldan (for he had become a Saracen), when he heard of the death of his brother Abaga, whilst his nephew Argon was so far away, thought there was a good chance for him to seize the government. So he raised a great force and went straight to the Court of his late brother Abaga, and seized the sovereignty and proclaimed himself King; and also got possession of the treasure, which was of vast amount. All this, like a crafty knave, he divided among the Barons and the troops to secure their hearts and favour to his cause. These Barons and soldiers accordingly, when they saw what large spoil they had got from him, were all ready to say he was the best of kings, and were full of love for him, and declared they would have no lord but him. But he did one evil thing that was greatly reprobated by all; for he took all the wives of his brother Abaga, and kept them for himself.[{2}]
Soon after he had seized the government, word came to him how Argon his nephew was advancing with all his host. Then he tarried not, but straightway summoned his Barons and all his people, and in a week had fitted out a great army of horse to go to meet Argon. And he went forth light of heart, as being confident of victory, showing no dismay, and saying on all occasions that he desired nought so much as to take Argon, and put him to a cruel death.[{3}]
[Note 1.]—Ábáká died at Hamadan 1st April 1282, twelve years after the defeat of Borrak.
[Note 2.]—This last sentence is in Pauthier’s text, but not in the G. T. The thing was a regular Tartar custom (vol. i. pp. 253, 256), and would scarcely be “reprobated by all.”
[Note 3.]—Acomat Soldan is Ahmad, a younger son of Hulaku, whose Mongol name was Tigúdar, and who had been baptized in his youth by the name of Nicolas, but went over to Islam, and thereby gained favour in Persia. On the death of his brother Ábáká he had a strong party and seized the throne. Arghún continued in sullen defiance, gathering means to assist his claim.
CHAPTER VII.
How Acomat Soldan set out with his Host against his Nephew who was coming to claim the Throne that belonged to him.
⚜ (Relates how Acomat marches with 60,000 horse, and on hearing of the approach of Argon summons his chiefs together and addresses them.)
CHAPTER VIII.
How Argon took Counsel with his Followers about attacking his Uncle Acomat Soldan.
⚜ (Argon, uneasy at hearing of Acomat’s approach, calls together his Barons and counsellors and addresses them.)
CHAPTER IX.
How the Barons of Argon answered his Address.
⚜ (An old Baron, as the spokesman of the rest, expresses their zeal and advises immediate advance. On coming within ten miles of Acomat, Argon encamps and sends two envoys to his uncle.)
CHAPTER X.
The Message sent by Argon to Acomat.
⚜ (A remonstrance and summons to surrender the throne.)
CHAPTER XI.
How Acomat replied to Argon’s Message.
And when Acomat Soldan had heard the message of Argon his nephew, he thus replied: “Sirs and envoys,” quoth he, “my nephew’s words are vain; for the land is mine, not his, and I helped to conquer it as much as his father did. So go and tell my nephew that if he will I will make him a great Prince, and give him ample lands, and he shall be as my son, and the greatest lord in the land after myself. But if he will not, let him be assured that I will do my best to bring him to his death! That is my answer to my nephew, and nought else of concession or covenant shall you ever have from me!” With that Acomat ceased, and said no word more. And when the Envoys had heard the Soldan’s words they asked again: “Is there no hope that we shall find you in different mind?” “Never,” quoth he, “never whilst I live shall ye find my mind changed.”
⚜ (Argon’s wrath at the reply. Both sides prepare for battle.)
CHAPTER XII.
Of the Battle between Argon and Acomat, and the Captivity of Argon.
⚜ (There is a prolix description of a battle almost identical with those already given in Chapter II. of this Book and previously. It ends with the rout of Argon’s army, and proceeds:)
And in the pursuit Argon was taken. As soon as this happened they gave up the chase, and returned to their camp full of joy and exultation. Acomat first caused his nephew to be shackled and well guarded, and then, being a man of great lechery, said to himself that he would go and enjoy himself among the fair women of his Court. He left a great Melic[{1}] in command of his host, enjoining him to guard Argon like his own life, and to follow to the Court by short marches, to spare the troops. And so Acomat departed with a great following, on his way to the royal residence. Thus then Acomat had left his host in command of that Melic whom I mentioned, whilst Argon remained in irons, and in such bitterness of heart that he desired to die.[{2}]
[Note 1.]—This is in the original Belic, for Melic, i.e. Ar. Malik, chief or prince.
[Note 2.]—In the spring of 1284 Ahmad marched against his nephew Arghún, and they encountered in the plain of Aḳ Khoja, near Kazwin. Arghún’s force was very inferior in numbers, and he was defeated. He fled to the Castle of Kala’at beyond Tús, but was persuaded to surrender. Ahmad treated him kindly, and though his principal followers urged the execution of the prisoner, he refused, having then, it is said, no thought for anything but the charms of his new wife Tudai.
CHAPTER XIII.
How Argon was delivered from Prison.
Now it befel that there was a great Tartar Baron, a very aged man, who took pity on Argon, saying to himself that they were doing an evil and disloyal deed in keeping their lawful lord a prisoner, wherefore he resolved to do all in his power for his deliverance. So he tarried not, but went incontinently to certain other Barons and told them his mind, saying that it would be a good deed to deliver Argon and make him their lord, as he was by right. And when the other Barons had heard what he had to put before them, then both because they regarded him as one of the wisest men among them, and because what he said was the truth, they all consented to his proposal and said that they would join with all their hearts. So when the Barons had assented, Boga (which was he who had set the business going), and with him Elchidai, Togan, Tegana, Tagachar, Ulatai, and Samagar,—all those whom I have now named,—proceeded to the tent where Argon lay a prisoner. When they had got thither, Boga, who was the leader in the business, spoke first, and to this effect: “Good my Lord Argon,” said he, “we are well aware that we have done ill in making you a prisoner, and we come to tell you that we desire to return to Right and Justice. We come therefore to set you free, and to make you our Liege Lord as by right you are!” Then Boga ceased and said no more.
CHAPTER XIV.
How Argon got the Sovereignty at last.
When Argon heard the words of Boga he took them in truth for an untimely jest, and replied with much bitterness of soul: “Good my Lord,” quoth he, “you do ill to mock me thus! Surely it suffices that you have done me so great wrong already, and that you hold me, your lawful Lord, here a prisoner and in chains! Ye know well, as I cannot doubt, that you are doing an evil and a wicked thing, so I pray you go your way, and cease to flout me.” “Good my Lord Argon,” said Boga, “be assured we are not mocking you, but are speaking in sober earnest, and we will swear it on our Law.” Then all the Barons swore fealty to him as their Lord, and Argon too swore that he would never reckon it against them that they had taken him prisoner, but would hold them as dear as his father before him had done.
And when these oaths had passed they struck off Argon’s fetters, and hailed him as their lord. Argon then desired them to shoot a volley of arrows into the tent of the Melic who had held them prisoners, and who was in command of the army, that he might be slain. At his word they tarried not, but straightway shot a great number of arrows at the tent, and so slew the Melic. When that was done Argon took the supreme command and gave his orders as sovereign, and was obeyed by all. And you must know that the name of him who was slain, whom we have called the Melic, was Soldan; and he was the greatest Lord after Acomat himself. In this way that you have heard, Argon recovered his authority.
CHAPTER XV.
How Acomat was taken Prisoner.
⚜ (A messenger breaks in upon Acomat’s festivities with the news that Soldan was slain, and Argon released and marching to attack him. Acomat escapes to seek shelter with the Sultan of Babylon, i.e. of Egypt, attended by a very small escort. The Officer in command of a Pass by which he had to go, seeing the state of things, arrests him and carries him to the Court (probably Tabriz), where Argon was already arrived.)
CHAPTER XVI.
How Acomat was slain by Order of his Nephew.
And so when the Officer of the Pass came before Argon bringing Acomat captive, he was in a great state of exultation, and welcomed his uncle with a malediction,[1] saying that he should have his deserts. And he straightway ordered the army to be assembled before him, and without taking counsel with any one, commanded the prisoner to be put to death, and his body to be destroyed. So the officer appointed to this duty took Acomat away and put him to death, and threw his body where it never was seen again.
[1] “Il dit à son ungle qe il soit le mau-venu” (see supra, p. 21).
CHAPTER XVII.
How Argon was recognised as Sovereign.
And when Argon had done as you have heard, and remained in possession of the Throne and of the Royal Palace, all the Barons of the different Provinces, who had been subject to his father Abaga, came and performed homage before him, and obeyed him, as was his due.[{1}] And after Argon was well established in the sovereignty he sent Casan, his son, with 30,000 horse to the Arbre Sec, I mean to the region so-called, to watch the frontier. Thus then Argon got back the government. And you must know that Argon began his reign in the year 1286 of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Acomat had reigned two years, and Argon reigned six years; and at the end of those six years he became ill and died; but some say ’twas of poison.[{2}]
[Note 1.]—Arghún, a prisoner (see last note), and looking for the worst, was upheld by his courageous wife Bulughán (see Prologue, ch. xvii.), who shared his confinement. The order for his execution, as soon as the camp should next move, had been issued.
Buka the Jelair, who had been a great chief under Ábáká, and had resentments against Ahmad, got up a conspiracy in favour of Arghún, and effected his release as well as the death of Alinak, Ahmad’s commander-in-chief. Ahmad fled towards Tabriz, pursued by a band of the Karaunas, who succeeded in taking him. When Arghún came near and saw his uncle in their hands, he called out in exultation Morio!—an exclamation, says Wassáf, which the Mongols used when successful in archery,—and with a gesture gave the signal for the prisoner’s death (10th August 1284).
Buka is of course the Boga of Polo; Alinak is his Soldan. The conspirators along with Buka, who are named in the history of Wassáf, are Yesubuka, Gurgán, Aruk, Kurmishi, and Arkasun Noian. Those named by Polo are not mentioned on this occasion, but the names are all Mongol. Tagájar, Ilchidai, Tughan, Samaghar, all appear in the Persian history of those times. Tagajar appears to have had the honour of a letter from the Pope (Nicolas IV.) in 1291, specially exhorting him to adopt the Christian faith; it was sent along with letters of like tenor addressed to Arghún, Gházán, and other members of the imperial family. Tagajar is also mentioned by the continuator of Abulfaraj as engaged in the conspiracy to dethrone Kaikhátú. Ulatai was probably the same who went a few years later as Arghún’s ambassador to Cambaluc (see Prologue, ch. xvii.); and Polo may have heard the story from him on board ship.
(Assem. III. pt. 2, 118; Mosheim, p. 80; Ilchan., passim.)
Abulfaragius gives a fragment of a letter from Arghún to Kúblái, reporting the deposition of Ahmad by the princes because he had “apostatized from the law of their fathers, and adopted that of the Arabs.” (Assemani, u.s. p. 116.) The same historian says that Ahmad was kind and liberal to the Christians, though Hayton speaks differently.
[Note 2.]—Arghún obtained the throne on Ahmad’s death, as just related, and soon after named his son Gházán (born in 1271) to the Government of Khorasan, Mazanderan, Kumis, and Rei. Buka was made Chief Minister. The circumstances of Arghún’s death have been noticed already (supra, [p. 369]).
Facsimile of the Letters sent to Philip the Fair, King of France, by Arghún Khan in A.D. 1289, and by Oljaïtu, in A.D. 1305.
CHAPTER XVIII.
How Kiacatu seized the Sovereignty after Argon’s Death.
And immediately on Argon’s death, an uncle of his who was own brother[1] to Abaga his father, seized the throne, as he found it easy to do owing to Casan’s being so far away as the Arbre Sec. When Casan heard of his father’s death he was in great tribulation, and still more when he heard of Kiacatu’s seizing the throne. He could not then venture to leave the frontier for fear of his enemies, but he vowed that when time and place should suit he would go and take as great vengeance as his father had taken on Acomat. And what shall I tell you? Kiacatu continued to rule, and all obeyed him except such as were along with Casan. Kiacatu took the wife of Argon for his own, and was always dallying with women, for he was a great lechour. He held the throne for two years, and at the end of those two years he died; for you must know he was poisoned.[{1}]
[Note 1.]—Kaikhátú, of whom we heard in the Prologue (vol. i. p. 35), was the brother, not the uncle, of Arghún. On the death of the latter there were three claimants, viz., his son Gházán, his brother Kaikhátú, and his cousin Baidu, the son of Tarakai, one of Hulaku’s sons. The party of Kaikhátú was strongest, and he was raised to the throne at Akhlath, 23rd July 1291. He took as wives out of the Royal Tents of Arghún the Ladies Bulughán (the 2nd, not her named in the Prologue) and Uruk. All the writers speak of Kaikhátú’s character in the same way. Hayton calls him “a man without law or faith, of no valour or experience in arms, but altogether given up to lechery and vice, living like a brute beast, glutting all his disordered appetites; for his dissolute life hated by his own people, and lightly regarded by foreigners.” (Ram. II. ch. xxiv.) The continuator of Abulfaraj, and Abulfeda in his Annals, speak in like terms. (Assem. III. Pt. 2nd, 119–120; Reiske, Ann. Abulf. III. 101.)
Baidu rose against him; most of his chiefs abandoned him, and he was put to death in March–April, 1295. He reigned therefore nearly four years, not two as the text says.
[1] Frer carnaus (I. p. 187).
CHAPTER XIX.
How Baidu seized the Sovereignty after the Death of Kiacatu.
When Kiacatu was dead, Baidu, who was his uncle, and was a Christian, seized the throne.[{1}] This was in the year 1294 of Christ’s Incarnation. So Baidu held the government, and all obeyed him, except only those who were with Casan.
And when Casan heard that Kiacatu was dead, and Baidu had seized the throne, he was in great vexation, especially as he had not been able to take his vengeance on Kiacatu. As for Baidu, Casan swore that he would take such vengeance on him that all the world should speak thereof; and he said to himself that he would tarry no longer, but would go at once against Baidu and make an end of him. So he addressed all his people, and then set out to get possession of his throne.
And when Baidu had intelligence thereof he assembled a great army and got ready, and marched ten days to meet him, and then pitched his camp, and awaited the advance of Casan to attack him; meanwhile addressing many prayers and exhortations to his own people. He had not been halted two days when Casan with all his followers arrived. And that very day a fierce battle began. But Baidu was not fit to stand long against Casan, and all the less that soon after the action began many of his troops abandoned him and took sides with Casan. Thus Baidu was discomfited and put to death, and Casan remained victor and master of all. For as soon as he had won the battle and put Baidu to death, he proceeded to the capital and took possession of the government; and all the Barons performed homage and obeyed him as their liege lord. Casan began to reign in the year 1294 of the Incarnation of Christ.
Thus then you have had the whole history from Abaga to Casan, and I should tell you that Alaü, the conqueror of Baudac, and the brother of the Great Kaan Cublay, was the progenitor of all those I have mentioned. For he was the father of Abaga, and Abaga was the father of Argon, and Argon was the father of Casan who now reigns.[{2}]
Now as we have told you all about the Tartars of the Levant, we will quit them and go back and tell you more about Great Turkey— But in good sooth we have told you all about Great Turkey and the history of Caidu, and there is really no more to tell. So we will go on and tell you of the Provinces and nations in the far North.
[Note 1.]—The Christian writers often ascribe Christianity to various princes of the Mongol dynasties without any good grounds. Certain coins of the Ilkhans of Persia, up to the time of Gházán’s conversion to Islam, exhibit sometimes Mahomedan and sometimes Christian formulæ, but this is no indication of the religion of the prince. Thus coins not merely of the heathen Khans Ábáká and Arghún, but of Ahmad Tigudar, the fanatical Moslem, are found inscribed “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” Raynaldus, under 1285, gives a fragment of a letter addressed by Arghún to the European Powers, and dated from Tabriz, “in the year of the Cock,” which begins “In Christi Nomen, Amen!” But just in like manner some of the coins of Norman kings of Sicily are said to bear the Mahomedan profession of faith; and the copper money of some of the Ghaznevide sultans bears the pagan effigy of the bull Nandi, borrowed from the coinage of the Hindu kings of Kabul.
The European Princes could not get over the belief that the Mongols were necessarily the inveterate enemies of Mahomedanism and all its professors. Though Gházán was professedly a zealous Mussulman, we find King James of Aragon, in 1300, offering Cassan Rey del Mogol amity and alliance with much abuse of the infidel Saracens; and the same feeling is strongly expressed in a letter of Edward II. of England to the “Emperor of the Tartars,” which apparently was meant for Oljaitu, the successor of Gházán. (Fraehn de Ilchan. Nummis, vi. and passim; Raynald. III. 619; J. A. S. B. XXIV. 490; Kington’s Frederick II. I. 396; Capmany, Antiguos Tratados, etc. p. 107; Rymer, 2d Ed. III. 34; see also p. 20.)
There are other assertions, besides our author’s, that Baidu professed Christianity. Hayton says so, and asserts that he prohibited Mahomedan proselytism among the Tartars. The continuator of Abulfaraj says that Baidu’s long acquaintance with the Greek Despina Khatun, the wife of Ábáká, had made him favourable to Christians, so that he willingly allowed a church to be carried about with the camp, and bells to be struck therein, but he never openly professed Christianity. In fact at this time the whole body of Mongols in Persia was passing over to Islam, and Baidu also, to please them, adopted Mahomedan practices. But he would only employ Christians as Ministers of State. His rival Gházán, on the other hand, strengthened his own influence by adopting Islam, Baidu’s followers fell off from him, and delivered him into Gházán’s power. He was put to death 4th of October, 1295, about seven months after the death of his predecessor. D’Ohsson’s authorities seem to mention no battle such as the text speaks of, but Mirkhond, as abridged by Teixeira, does so, and puts it at Nakshiwán on the Araxes (p. 341).
[Note 2.]—Hayton testifies from his own knowledge to the remarkable personal beauty of Arghún, whilst he tells us that the son Gházán was as notable for the reverse. After recounting with great enthusiasm instances which he had witnessed of the daring and energy of Gházán, the Armenian author goes on, “And the most remarkable thing of all was that within a frame so small, and ugly almost to monstrosity, there should be assembled nearly all those high qualities which nature is wont to associate with a form of symmetry and beauty. In fact among all his host of 200,000 Tartars you should scarcely find one of smaller stature or of uglier and meaner aspect than this Prince.”
Tomb of Oljaïtu Khan, the brother of Polo’s “Casan,” at Sultaniah. (From Fergusson.)
Pachymeres says that Gházán made Cyrus, Darius, and Alexander his patterns, and delighted to read of them. He was very fond of the mechanical arts; “no one surpassed him in making saddles, bridles, spurs, greaves, and helmets; he could hammer, stitch, and polish, and in such occupations employed the hours of his leisure from war.” The same author speaks of the purity and beauty of his coinage, and the excellence of his legislation. Of the latter, so famous in the East, an account at length is given by D’Ohsson. (Hayton in Ramus. II. ch. xxvi.; Pachym. Andron. Palaeol. VI. 1; D’Ohsson, vol iv.)
Before finally quitting the “Tartars of the Levant,” we give a representation of the finest work of architecture that they have left behind them, the tomb built for himself by Oljaïtu (see on this page), or, as his Moslem name ran, Mahomed Khodabandah, in the city of Sultaniah, which he founded. Oljaïtu was the brother and successor of Marco Polo’s friend Gházán, and died in 1316, eight years before our traveller.
CHAPTER XX.
Concerning King Conchi who rules the Far North.
You must know that in the far north there is a King called Conchi. He is a Tartar, and all his people are Tartars, and they keep up the regular Tartar religion. A very brutish one it is, but they keep it up just the same as Chinghis Kaan and the proper Tartars did, so I will tell you something of it.
You must know then that they make them a god of felt, and call him Natigai; and they also make him a wife; and then they say that these two divinities are the gods of the Earth who protect their cattle and their corn and all their earthly goods. They pray to these figures, and when they are eating a good dinner they rub the mouths of their gods with the meat, and do many other stupid things.
The King is subject to no one, although he is of the Imperial lineage of Chinghis Kaan, and a near kinsman of the Great Kaan.[{1}] This King has neither city nor castle; he and his people live always either in the wide plains or among great mountains and valleys. They subsist on the milk and flesh of their cattle, and have no corn. The King has a vast number of people, but he carries on no war with anybody, and his people live in great tranquillity. They have enormous numbers of cattle, camels, horses, oxen, sheep, and so forth.
You find in their country immense bears entirely white, and more than 20 palms in length. There are also large black foxes, wild asses, and abundance of sables; those creatures I mean from the skins of which they make those precious robes that cost 1000 bezants each. There are also vairs in abundance; and vast multitudes of the Pharaoh’s rat, on which the people live all the summer time. Indeed they have plenty of all sorts of wild creatures, for the country they inhabit is very wild and trackless.[{2}]
And you must know that this King possesses one tract of country which is quite impassable for horses, for it abounds greatly in lakes and springs, and hence there is so much ice as well as mud and mire, that horses cannot travel over it. This difficult country is 13 days in extent, and at the end of every day’s journey there is a post for the lodgment of the couriers who have to cross this tract. At each of these post-houses they keep some 40 dogs of great size, in fact not much smaller than donkeys, and these dogs draw the couriers over the day’s journey from post-house to post-house, and I will tell you how. You see the ice and mire are so prevalent, that over this tract, which lies for those 13 days’ journey in a great valley between two mountains, no horses (as I told you) can travel, nor can any wheeled carriage either. Wherefore they make sledges, which are carriages without wheels, and made so that they can run over the ice, and also over mire and mud without sinking too deep in it. Of these sledges indeed there are many in our own country, for ’tis just such that are used in winter for carrying hay and straw when there have been heavy rains and the country is deep in mire. On such a sledge then they lay a bear-skin on which the courier sits, and the sledge is drawn by six of those big dogs that I spoke of. The dogs have no driver, but go straight for the next post-house, drawing the sledge famously over ice and mire. The keeper of the post-house however also gets on a sledge drawn by dogs, and guides the party by the best and shortest way. And when they arrive at the next station they find a new relay of dogs and sledges ready to take them on, whilst the old relay turns back; and thus they accomplish the whole journey across that region, always drawn by dogs.[{3}]
The people who dwell in the valleys and mountains adjoining that tract of 13 days’ journey are great huntsmen, and catch great numbers of precious little beasts which are sources of great profit to them. Such are the Sable, the Ermine, the Vair, the Erculin, the Black Fox, and many other creatures from the skins of which the most costly furs are prepared. They use traps to take them, from which they can’t escape.[{4}] But in that region the cold is so great that all the dwellings of the people are underground, and underground they always live.[{5}]
There is no more to say on this subject, so I shall proceed to tell you of a region in that quarter, in which there is perpetual darkness.
[Note 1.]—There are two Kuwinjis, or Kaunchis, as the name, from Polo’s representation of it, probably ought to be written, mentioned in connection with the Northern Steppes, if indeed there has not been confusion about them; both are descendants of Juji, the eldest son of Chinghiz. One was the twelfth son of Shaibani, the 5th son of Juji. Shaibani’s Yurt was in Siberia, and his family seem to have become predominant in that quarter. Arghún, on his defeat by Ahmad (supra [p. 470]), was besought to seek shelter with Kaunchi. The other Kaunchi was the son of Sirtaktai, the son of Orda, the eldest son of Juji, and was, as well as his father and grandfather, chief of the White Horde, whose territory lay north-east of the Caspian. An embassy from this Kaunchi is mentioned as having come to the court of Kaikhátú at Siah-Kuh (north of Tabriz) with congratulations, in the summer of 1293. Polo may very possibly have seen the members of this embassy, and got some of his information from them. (See Gold. Horde, 149, 249; Ilkhans, I. 354, 403; II. 193, where Hammer writes the name of Kandschi.)
It is perhaps a trace of the lineage of the old rulers of Siberia that the old town of Tyuman in Western Siberia is still known to the Tartars as Chinghiz Tora, or the Fort of Chinghiz. (Erman, I. 310.)
[Note 2.]—We see that Polo’s information in this chapter extends over the whole latitude of Siberia; for the great White Bears and the Black Foxes belong to the shores of the Frozen Ocean; the Wild Asses only to the southern parts of Siberia. As to the Pharaoh’s Rat, see vol. i. p. 254.
[Note 3.]—No dog-sledges are now known, I believe, on this side of the course of the Obi, and there not south of about 61° 30′. But in the 11th century they were in general use between the Dwina and Petchora. And Ibn Batuta’s account seems to imply that in the 14th they were in use far to the south of the present limit: “It had been my wish to visit the Land of Darkness, which can only be done from Bolghar. There is a distance of 40 days’ journey between these two places. I had to give up the intention however on account of the great difficulty attending the journey and the little fruit that it promised. In that country they travel only with small vehicles drawn by great dogs. For the steppe is covered with ice, and the feet of men or the shoes of horses would slip, whereas the dogs having claws their paws don’t slip upon the ice. The only travellers across this wilderness are rich merchants, each of whom owns about 100 of these vehicles, which are loaded with meat, drink, and firewood. In fact, on this route there are neither trees nor stones, nor human dwellings. The guide of the travellers is a dog who has often made the journey before! The price of such a beast is sometimes as high as 1000 dinárs or thereabouts. He is yoked to the vehicle by the neck, and three other dogs are harnessed along with him. He is the chief, and all the other dogs with their carts follow his guidance and stop when he stops. The master of this animal never ill-uses him nor scolds him, and at feeding-time the dogs are always served before the men. If this be not attended to, the chief of the dogs will get sulky and run off, leaving the master to perdition” (II. 399–400).
The Siberian Dog-Sledge.
“E sus ceste treies hi se mete sus un cuir d’ors, e puis hi monte sus un mesaje; e ceste treies moinent six chienz de celz grant qe je vos ai contés; et cesti chienz ne les moine nulz, mès il vont tout droit jusque à l’autre poste, et trainent la treies mout bien.”
[Mr. Parker writes (China Review, xiv. p. 359), that dog-sledges appear to have been known to the Chinese, for in a Chinese poem occurs the line: “Over the thick snow in a dog-cart.”—H. C.]
The bigness attributed to the dogs by Polo, Ibn Batuta, and Rubruquis, is an imagination founded on the work ascribed to them. Mr. Kennan says they are simply half-domesticated Arctic wolves. Erman calls them the height of European spaniels (qu. setters?), but much slenderer and leaner in the flanks. A good draught-dog, according to Wrangell, should be 2 feet high and 3 feet in length. The number of dogs attached to a sledge is usually greater than the old travellers represent,—none of whom, however, had seen the thing.
Wrangell’s account curiously illustrates what Ibn Batuta says of the Old Dog who guides: “The best-trained and most intelligent dog is often yoked in front.... He often displays extraordinary sagacity and influence over the other dogs, e.g. in keeping them from breaking after game. In such a case he will sometimes turn and bark in the opposite direction; ... and in crossing a naked and boundless taundra in darkness or snow-drift he will guess his way to a hut that he has never visited but once before” (I. 159). Kennan also says: “They are guided and controlled entirely by the voice and by a lead-dog, who is especially trained for the purpose.” The like is related of the Esquimaux dogs. (Kennan’s Tent Life in Siberia, pp. 163–164; Wood’s Mammalia, p. 266.)
[Note 4.]—On the Erculin and Ercolin of the G. T., written Arculin in next chapter, Arcolino of Ramusio, Herculini of Pipino, no light is thrown by the Italian or other editors. One supposes of course some animal of the ermine or squirrel kinds affording valuable fur, but I can find no similar name of any such animal. It may be the Argali or Siberian Wild Sheep, which Rubruquis mentions: “I saw another kind of beast which is called Arcali; its body is just like a ram’s, and its horns spiral like a ram’s also, only they are so big that I could scarcely lift a pair of them with one hand. They make huge drinking-vessels out of these” (p. 230). [See I. p. 177.]
Vair, so often mentioned in mediæval works, appears to have been a name appropriate to the fur as prepared rather than to the animal. This appears to have been the Siberian squirrel called in French petit-gris, the back of which is of a fine grey and the belly of a brilliant white. In the Vair (which is perhaps only varius or variegated) the backs and bellies were joined in a kind of checquer; whence the heraldic checquer called by the same name. There were two kinds, menu-vair corrupted into minever, and gros-vair, but I cannot learn clearly on what the distinction rested. (See Douet d’Arcq, p. xxxv.) Upwards of 2000 ventres de menuvair were sometimes consumed in one complete suit of robes (ib. xxxii.).
The traps used by the Siberian tribes to take these valuable animals are described by Erman (I. 452), only in the English translation the description is totally incomprehensible; also in Wrangell, I. 151.
[Note 5.]—The country chiefly described in this chapter is probably that which the Russians, and also the Arabian Geographers, used to term Yugria, apparently the country of the Ostyaks on the Obi. The winter-dwellings of the people are not, strictly speaking, underground, but they are flanked with earth piled up against the walls. The same is the case with those of the Yakuts in Eastern Siberia, and these often have the floors also sunk 3 feet in the earth. Habitations really subterranean, of some previous race, have been found in the Samoyed country. (Klaproth’s Mag. Asiatique, II. 66.)
CHAPTER XXI.
Concerning the Land of Darkness.
Still further north, and a long way beyond that kingdom of which I have spoken, there is a region which bears the name of Darkness, because neither sun nor moon nor stars appear, but it is always as dark as with us in the twilight. The people have no king of their own, nor are they subject to any foreigner, and live like beasts. [They are dull of understanding, like half-witted persons.[{1}]]
The Tartars however sometimes visit the country, and they do it in this way. They enter the region riding mares that have foals, and these foals they leave behind. After taking all the plunder that they can get they find their way back by help of the mares, which are all eager to get back to their foals, and find the way much better than their riders could do.[{2}]
Those people have vast quantities of valuable peltry; thus they have those costly Sables of which I spoke, and they have the Ermine, the Arculin, the Vair, the Black Fox, and many other valuable furs. They are all hunters by trade, and amass amazing quantities of those furs. And the people who are on their borders, where the Light is, purchase all those furs from them; for the people of the Land of Darkness carry the furs to the Light country for sale, and the merchants who purchase these make great gain thereby, I assure you.[{3}]
The people of this region are tall and shapely, but very pale and colourless. One end of the country borders upon Great Rosia. And as there is no more to be said about it, I will now proceed, and first I will tell you about the Province of Rosia.
[Note 1.]—In the Ramusian version we have a more intelligent representation of the facts regarding the Land of Darkness: “Because for most part of the winter months the sun appears not, and the air is dusky, as it is just before the dawn when you see and yet do not see;” and again below it speaks of the inhabitants catching the fur animals “in summer when they have continuous daylight.” It is evident that the writer of this version did and the writer of the original French which we have translated from did not understand what he was writing. The whole of the latter account implies belief in the perpetuity of the darkness. It resembles Pliny’s hazy notion of the northern regions:[1] “pars mundi damnata a rerum naturâ et densâ mersa caligine.” Whether the fault is due to Rustician’s ignorance or is Polo’s own, who can say? We are willing to debit it to the former, and to credit Marco with the improved version in Ramusio. In the Masálak-al-Absár, however, we have the following passage in which the conception is similar: “Merchants do not ascend (the Wolga) beyond Bolghar; from that point they make excursions through the province of Julman (supposed to be the country on the Kama and Viatka). The merchants of the latter country penetrate to Yughra, which is the extremity of the North. Beyond that you see no trace of habitation except a great Tower built by Alexander, after which there is nothing but Darkness.” The narrator of this, being asked what he meant, said: “It is a region of desert mountains, where frost and snow continually reign, where the sun never shines, no plant vegetates, and no animal lives. Those mountains border on the Dark Sea, on which rain falls perpetually, fogs are ever dense, and the sun never shows itself, and on tracts perpetually covered with snow.” (N. et Ex. XIII. i. 285.)
[Note 2.]—This is probably a story of great antiquity, for it occurs in the legends of the mythical Ughuz, Patriarch of the Turk and Tartar nations, as given by Rashiduddin. In this hero’s campaign towards the far north, he had ordered the old men to be left behind near Almalik; but a very ancient sage called Bushi Khwaja persuaded his son to carry him forward in a box, as they were sure sooner or later to need the counsel of experienced age. When they got to the land of Kará Hulun, Ughuz and his officers were much perplexed about finding their way, as they had arrived at the Land of Darkness. The old Bushi was then consulted, and his advice was that they should take with them 4 mares and 9 she-asses that had foals, and tie up the foals at the entrance to the Land of Darkness, but drive the dams before them. And when they wished to return they would be guided by the scent and maternal instinct of the mares and she-asses. And so it was done. (See Erdmann Temudschin, p. 478.) Ughuz, according to the Mussulman interpretation of the Eastern Legends, was the great-grandson of Japhet.
The story also found its way into some of the later Greek forms of the Alexander Legends. Alexander, when about to enter the Land of Darkness, takes with him only picked young men. Getting into difficulties, the King wants to send back for some old sage who should advise. Two young men had smuggled their old father with them in anticipation of such need, and on promise of amnesty they produce him. He gives the advice to use the mares as in the text. (See Müller’s ed. of Pseudo-Callisthenes, Bk. II. ch. xxxiv.)
[Note 3.]—Ibn Batuta thus describes the traffic that took place with the natives of the Land of Darkness: “When the Travellers have accomplished a journey of 40 days across this Desert tract they encamp near the borders of the Land of Darkness. Each of them then deposits there the goods that he has brought with him, and all return to their quarters. On the morrow they come back to look at their goods, and find laid beside them skins of the Sable, the Vair, and the Ermine. If the owner of the goods is satisfied with what is laid beside his parcel he takes it, if not he leaves it there. The inhabitants of the Land of Darkness may then (on another visit) increase the amount of their deposit, or, as often happens, they may take it away altogether and leave the goods of the foreign merchants untouched. In this way is the trade conducted. The people who go thither never know whether those with whom they buy and sell are men or goblins, for they never see any one!” (II. 401.)
[“Ibn Batuta’s account of the market of the ‘Land of Darkness’ ... agrees almost word for word with Dr. Mirth’s account of the ‘Spirit Market, taken from the Chinese.’” (Parker, China Review, XIV. p. 359.)—H. C.]
Abulfeda gives exactly the same account of the trade; and so does Herberstein. Other Oriental writers ascribe the same custom to the Wisu, a people three months’ journey from Bolghar. These Wisu have been identified by Fraehn with the Wesses, a people spoken of by Russian historians as dwelling on the shores of the Bielo Osero, which Lake indeed is alleged by a Russian author to have been anciently called Wüsu, misunderstood into Weissensee, and thence rendered into Russian Bielo Osero (“White Lake”). (Golden Horde, App. p. 429; Büsching, IV. 359–360; Herberstein in Ram. II. 168 v.; Fraehn, Bolghar, pp. 14, 47; Do., Ibn Fozlan, 205 seqq., 221.) Dumb trade of the same kind is a circumstance related of very many different races and periods, e.g., of a people beyond the Pillars of Hercules by Herodotus, of the Sabaean dealers in frankincense by Theophrastus, of the Seres by Pliny, of the Sasians far south of Ethiopia by Cosmas, of the people of the Clove Islands by Kazwini, of a region beyond Segelmessa by Mas’udi, of a people far beyond Timbuctoo by Cadamosto, of the Veddas of Ceylon by Marignolli and more modern writers, of the Poliars of Malabar by various authors, by Paulus Jovius of the Laplanders, etc. etc.
Pliny’s attribution, surely erroneous, of this custom to the Chinese [see supra, H. C.], suggests that there may have been a misunderstanding by which this method of trade was confused with that other curious system of dumb higgling, by the pressure of the knuckles under a shawl, a masonic system in use from Peking to Bombay, and possibly to Constantinople.
The term translated here “Light,” and the “Light Country,” is in the G. T. “a la Carte,” “a la Cartes.” This puzzled me for a long time, as I see it puzzled Mr. Hugh Murray, Signor Bartoli, and Lazari (who passes it over). The version of Pipino, “ad Lucis terras finitimas deferunt,” points to the true reading;—Carte is an error for Clarté.
The reading of this chapter is said to have fired Prince Rupert with the scheme which resulted in the establishment of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
[1] That is, in one passage of Pliny (iv. 12); for in another passage from his multifarious note book, where Thule is spoken of, the Arctic day and night are much more distinctly characterised (IV. 16).
CHAPTER XXII.
Description of Rosia and its People. Province of Lac.
Rosia is a very great province, lying towards the north. The people are Christians, and follow the Greek doctrine. There are several kings in the country, and they have a language of their own. They are a people of simple manners, but both men and women very handsome, being all very white and [tall, with long fair hair]. There are many strong defiles and passes in the country; and they pay tribute to nobody except to a certain Tartar king of the Ponent, whose name is Toctai; to him indeed they pay tribute, but only a trifle. It is not a land of trade, though to be sure they have many fine and valuable furs, such as Sables, in abundance, and Ermine, Vair, Ercolin, and Fox skins, the largest and finest in the world [and also much wax]. They also possess many Silver-mines, from which they derive a large amount of silver.[{1}]
There is nothing else worth mentioning; so let us leave Rosia, and I will tell you about the Great Sea, and what provinces and nations lie round about it, all in detail; and we will begin with Constantinople.—First, however, I should tell you of a province that lies between north and north-west. You see in that region that I have been speaking of, there is a province called Lac, which is conterminous with Rosia, and has a king of its own. The people are partly Christians and partly Saracens. They have abundance of furs of good quality, which merchants export to many countries. They live by trade and handicrafts.[{2}]
There is nothing more worth mentioning, so I will speak of other subjects; but there is one thing more to tell you about Rosia that I had forgotten. You see in Rosia there is the greatest cold that is to be found anywhere, so great as to be scarcely bearable. The country is so great that it reaches even to the shores of the Ocean Sea, and ’tis in that sea that there are certain islands in which are produced numbers of gerfalcons and peregrine falcons, which are carried in many directions. From Russia also to Oroech it is not very far, and the journey could be soon made, were it not for the tremendous cold; but this renders its accomplishment almost impossible.[{3}]
Now then let us speak of the Great Sea, as I was about to do. To be sure many merchants and others have been there, but still there are many again who know nothing about it, so it will be well to include it in our Book. We will do so then, and let us begin first with the Strait of Constantinople.
[Note 1.]—Ibn Fozlan, the oldest Arabic author who gives any detailed account of the Russians (and a very remarkable one it is), says he “never saw people of form more perfectly developed; they were tall as palm-trees, and ruddy of countenance,” but at the same time “the most uncleanly people that God hath created,” drunken, and frightfully gross in their manners. (Fraehn’s Ibn Fozlan, p. 5 seqq.) Ibn Batuta is in some respects less flattering; he mentions the silver-mines noticed in our text: “At a day’s distance from Ukak[1] are the hills of the Russians, who are Christians. They have red hair and blue eyes; ugly to look at, and crafty to deal with. They have silver-mines, and it is from their country that are brought the saum or ingots of silver with which buying and selling is carried on in this country (Kipchak or the Ponent of Polo). The weight of each saumah is 5 ounces” (II. 414). Mas’udi also says: “The Russians have in their country a silver-mine similar to that which exists in Khorasan, at the mountain of Banjhir” (i.e. Panjshir; II. 15; and see supra, vol. i. p. 161). These positive and concurrent testimonies as to Russian silver-mines are remarkable, as modern accounts declare that no silver is found in Russia. And if we go back to the 16th century, Herberstein says the same. There was no silver, he says, except what was imported; silver money had been in use barely 100 years; previously they had used oblong ingots of the value of a ruble, without any figure or legend. (Ram. II. 159.)
But a welcome communication from Professor Bruun points out that the statement of Ibn Batuta identifies the silver-mines in question with certain mines of argentiferous lead-ore near the River Mious (a river falling into the sea of Azof, about 22 miles west of Taganrog); an ore which even in recent times has afforded 60 per cent. of lead, and ¹⁄₂₄ per cent. of silver. And it was these mines which furnished the ancient Russian rubles or ingots. Thus the original ruble was the saumah of Ibn Batuta, the sommo of Pegolotti. A ruble seems to be still called by some term like saumah in Central Asia; it is printed soom in the Appendix to Davies’s Punjab Report, p. xi. And Professor Bruun tells me that the silver ruble is called Som by the Ossethi of Caucasus.[2]
Franc.-Michel quotes from Fitz-Stephen’s Desc. of London (temp. Henry II.):—
“Aurum mittit Arabs ...
Seres purpureas vestes; Galli sua vina;
Norwegi, Russi, varium, grysium, sabelinas.”
Russia was overrun with fire and sword as far as Tver and Torshok by Batu Khan (1237–1238), some years before his invasion of Poland and Silesia. Tartar tax-gatherers were established in the Russian cities as far north as Rostov and Jaroslawl, and for many years Russian princes as far as Novgorod paid homage to the Mongol Khans in their court at Sarai. Their subjection to the Khans was not such a trifle as Polo seems to imply; and at least a dozen Russian princes met their death at the hands of the Mongol executioner.
Mediæval Russian Church. (From Fergusson.)
[Note 2.]—The Lac of this passage appears to be Wallachia. Abulfeda calls the Wallachs Aulák; Rubruquis Illac, which he says is the same word as Blac (the usual European form of those days being Blachi, Blachia), but the Tartars could not pronounce the B (p. 275). Abulghazi says the original inhabitants of Kipchak were the Urús, the Olaks, the Majars, and the Bashkirs.
Rubruquis is wrong in placing Illac or Wallachs in Asia; at least the people near the Ural, who he says were so-called by the Tartars, cannot have been Wallachs. Professor Bruun, who corrects my error in following Rubruquis, thinks those Asiatic Blac must have been Polovtzi, or Cumanians.
[Mr. Rockhill (Rubruck, p. 130, note) writes: “A branch of the Volga Bulgars occupied the Moldo-Vallach country in about A.D. 485, but it was not until the first years of the 6th century that a portion of them passed the Danube under the leadership of Asparuk, and established themselves in the present Bulgaria, Friar William’s ‘Land of Assan.’”—H. C.]
[Note 3.]—Oroech is generally supposed to be a mistake for Noroech, Norwege or Norway, which is probable enough. But considering the Asiatic sources of most of our author’s information, it is also possible that Oroech represents Wareg. The Waraegs or Warangs are celebrated in the oldest Russian history as a race of warlike immigrants, of whom came Rurik, the founder of the ancient royal dynasty, and whose name was long preserved in that of the Varangian guards at Constantinople. Many Eastern geographers, from Al Biruni downwards, speak of the Warag or Warang as a nation dwelling in the north, on the borders of the Slavonic countries, and on the shores of a great arm of the Western Ocean, called the Sea of Warang, evidently the Baltic. The Waraegers are generally considered to have been Danes or Northmen, and Erman mentions that in the bazaars of Tobolsk he found Danish goods known as Varaegian. Mr. Hyde Clark, as I learn from a review, has recently identified the Warangs or Warings with the Varini, whom Tacitus couples with the Angli, and has shown probable evidence for their having taken part in the invasion of Britain. He has also shown that many points of the laws which they established in Russia were purely Saxon in character. (Bayer in Comment. Acad. Petropol. IV. 276 seqq.; Fraehn in App. to Ibn Fozlan, p. 177 seqq.; Erman, I. 374; Sat. Review, 19th June, 1869; Gold. Horde, App. p. 428.)
[1] This Ukak of Ibn Batuta is not, as I too hastily supposed (vol. i. p. 8) the Ucaca of the Polos on the Volga, but a place of the same name on the Sea of Azof, which appears in some mediæval maps as Locac or Locaq (i.e. l’Ocac), and which Elie de Laprimaudaie in his Periplus of the Mediæval Caspian, locates at a place called Kaszik, a little east of Mariupol. (Et. sur le Comm. au Moyen Age, p. 230.) I owe this correction to a valued correspondent, Professor Bruun, of Odessa.
[2] The word is, however, perhaps Or. Turkish; Som, “pure, solid.” (See Pavet de Courteille, and Vámbéry, s.v.)
CHAPTER XXIII.
He begins to speak of the Straits of Constantinople, but decides to leave that matter.
At the straits leading into the Great Sea, on the west side, there is a hill called the Faro.—But since beginning on this matter I have changed my mind, because so many people know all about it, so we will not put it in our description, but go on to something else. And so I will tell you about the Tartars of the Ponent, and the lords who have reigned over them.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Concerning the Tartars of the Ponent and their Lords.
The first lord of the Tartars of the Ponent was Sain, a very great and puissant king, who conquered Rosia and Comania, Alania, Lac, Menjar, Zic, Gothia, and Gazaria; all these provinces were conquered by King Sain. Before his conquest these all belonged to the Comanians, but they did not hold well together nor were they united, and thus they lost their territories and were dispersed over divers countries; and those who remained all became the servants of King Sain.[{1}]
After King Sain reigned King Patu, and after Patu Barca, and after Barca Mungletemur, and after Mungletemur King Totamangul, and then Toctai the present sovereign.[{2}]
Now I have told you of the Tartar kings of the Ponent, and next I shall tell you of a great battle that was fought between Alau the Lord of the Levant and Barca the Lord of the Ponent.
So now we will relate out of what occasion that battle arose, and how it was fought.
[Note 1.]—✛The Comanians, a people of Turkish race, the Polovtzi [or “Dwellers of the Plain” of Nestor, the Russian Annalist] of the old Russians, were one of the chief nations occupying the plains on the north of the Black Sea and eastward to the Caspian, previous to the Mongol invasion. Rubruquis makes them identical with the Kipchak, whose name is generally attached to those plains by Oriental writers, but Hammer disputes this. [See a note, pp. 92–93 of Rockhill’s Rubruck.—H. C.]
Alania, the country of the Alans on the northern skirts of the Caucasus and towards the Caspian; Lac, the Wallachs as above. Menjar is a subject of doubt. It may be Májar, on the Kuma River, a city which was visited by Ibn Batuta, and is mentioned by Abulfeda as Kummájar. It was in the 14th century the seat of a Franciscan convent. Coins of that century, both of Majar and New Majar, are given by Erdmann. The building of the fortresses of Kichi Majar and Ulu Majar (little and great) is ascribed in the Derbend Nameh to Naoshirwan. The ruins of Majar were extensive when seen by Gmelin in the last century, but when visited by Klaproth in the early part of the present one there were few buildings remaining. Inscriptions found there are, like the coins, Mongol-Mahomedan of the 14th century. Klaproth, with reference to these ruins, says that Majar merely means in “old Tartar” a stone building, and denies any connection with the Magyars as a nation. But it is possible that the Magyar country, i.e. Hungary, is here intended by Polo, for several Asiatic writers of his time, or near it, speak of the Hungarians as Majár. Thus Abulfeda speaks of the infidel nations near the Danube as including Aulák, Majárs, and Serbs; Rashiduddin speaks of the Mongols as conquering the country of the Bashkirds, the Majárs, and the Sassan (probably Saxons of Transylvania). One such mention from Abulghazi has been quoted in [note 2 to ch. xxii.]; in the Masálak-al-Absár, the Cherkes, Russians, Aas (or Alans), and Majar are associated; the Majar and Alán in Sharifuddin. Doubts indeed arise whether in some of these instances a people located in Asia be not intended.[1] (Rubr. p. 246; D’Avezac, p. 486 seqq.; Golden Horde, p. 5; I. B. II. 375 seqq.; Büsching, IV. 359; Cathay, p. 233; Numi Asiatici, I. 333, 451; Klaproth’s Travels, ch. xxxi.; N. et Ex. XIII. i. 269, 279; P. de la Croix, II. 383; Rein. Abulf. I. 80; D’Ohsson, II. 628.)
[“The author of the Tarikh Djihan Kushai, as well as Rashid and other Mohammedan authors of the same period, term the Hungarians Bashkerds (Bashkirs). This latter name, written also Bashkurd, appears for the first time, it seems, in Ibn Fozlan’s narrative of an embassy to the Bulgars on the Volga in the beginning of the 10th century (translated by Fraehn, ‘De Bashkiris,’ etc., 1822).... The Hungarians arrived in Europe in the 9th century, and then called themselves Magyar (to be pronounced Modjor), as they do down to the present time. The Russian Chronicler Nestor mentions their passing near Kiev in 898, and terms them Ugry. But the name Magyar was also known to other nations in the Middle Ages. Abulfeda (ii. 324) notices the Madjgars; it would, however, seem that he applies this name to the Bashkirs in Asia. The name Madjar occurs also in Rashid’s record. In the Chinese and Mongol annals of the 13th century the Hungarians are termed Madja-rh.” (Bretschneider, Med. Res. I. pp. 326–327.)—H. C.]
Zic is Circassia. The name was known to Pliny, Ptolemy, and other writers of classic times. Ramusio (II. 196 v) gives a curious letter to Aldus Manutius from George Interiano, “Della vita de’ Zychi chiamati Circassi,” and a great number of other references to ancient and mediæval use of the name will be found in D’Avezac’s Essay, so often quoted (p. 497).
Gothia is the southern coast of the Crimea from Sudak to Balaklava and the mountains north of the latter, then still occupied by a tribe of the Goths. The Genoese officer who governed this coast in the 15th century bore the title of Capitanus Gotiae; and a remnant of the tribe still survived, maintaining their Teutonic speech, to the middle of the 16th century, when Busbeck, the emperor’s ambassador to the Porte, fell in with two of them, from whom he derived a small vocabulary and other particulars. (Busbequii Opera, 1660, p. 321 seqq.; D’Avezac, pp. 498–499; Heyd, II. 123 seqq.; Cathay, pp. 200–201.)
Gazaria, the Crimea and part of the northern shore of the Sea of Azov, formerly occupied by the Khazars, a people whom Klaproth endeavours to prove to have been of Finnish race. When the Genoese held their settlements on the Crimean coast the Board at Genoa which administered the affairs of these colonies was called The Office of Gazaria.
[Note 2.]—The real list of the “Kings of the Ponent,” or Khans of the Golden Horde, down to the time of Polo’s narrative, runs thus: Batu, Sartaḳ, Ulagchi (these two almost nominal), Barka, Mangku Timur, Tudai Mangku, Tulabugha, Tuktuka or Toktai. Polo here omits Tulabugha (though he mentions him below in [ch. xxix.]), and introduces before Batu, as a great and powerful conqueror, the founder of the empire, a prince whom he calls Sain. This is in fact Batu himself, the leader of the great Tartar invasion of Europe (1240–1242), whom he has split into two kings. Batu bore the surname of Sain Khan, or “the Good Prince,” by which name he is mentioned, e.g., in Makrizi (Quatremère’s Trans. II. 45), also in Wassáf (Hammer’s Trans. pp. 29–30). Plano Carpini’s account of him is worth quoting: “Hominibus quidem ejus satis benignus; timetur tamen valde ab iis; sed crudelissimus est in pugnâ; sagax est multum; et etiam astutissimus in bello, quia longo tempore jam pugnavit.” This Good Prince was indeed crudelissimus in pugnâ. At Moscow he ordered a general massacre, and 270,000 right ears are said to have been laid before him in testimony to its accomplishment. It is odd enough that a mistake like that in the text is not confined to Polo. The chronicle of Kazan, according to a Russian writer, makes Sain succeed Batu. (Carpini, p. 746; J. As. sér. IV. tom. xvii. p. 109; Büsching, V. 493; also Golden Horde, p. 142, note.)
Batu himself, in the great invasion of the West, was with the southern host in Hungary; the northern army which fought at Liegnitz was under Baidar, a son of Chaghatai.
According to the Masálak-al-Absár, the territory of Kipchak, over which this dynasty ruled, extended in length from the Sea of Istambul to the River Irtish, a journey of 6 months, and in breadth from Bolghar to the Iron Gates, 4 (?) months’ journey. A second traveller, quoted in the same work, says the empire extended from the Iron Gates to Yughra (see [p. 483] supra), and from the Irtish to the country of the Nemej. The last term is very curious, being the Russian Niemicz, “Dumb,” a term which in Russia is used as a proper name of the Germans; a people, to wit, unable to speak Slavonic. (N. et Ex. XIII. i. 282, 284.)
[“An allusion to the Mongol invasion of Poland and Silesia is found in the Yuen-shi, ch. cxxi., biography of Wu-liang-ho t’ai (the son of Su-bu-t’ai). It is stated there that Wu-liang-ho t’ai [Uriangcadai] accompanied Badu when he invaded the countries of Kin-ch’a (Kipchak) and Wu-la-sz’ (Russia). Subsequently he took part also in the expedition against the P’o-lie-rh and Nie-mi-sze.” (Dr. Bretschneider, Med. Res. I. p. 322.) With reference to these two names, Dr. Bretschneider says, in a note, that he has no doubt that the Poles and Germans are intended. “As to its origin, the Russian linguists generally derive it from nemoi, ‘dumb,’ i.e., unable to speak Slavonic. To the ancient Byzantine chroniclers the Germans were known under the same name. Cf. Muralt’s Essai de Chronogr. Byzant., sub anno 882: ‘Les Slavons maltraités par les guerriers Nemetzi de Swiatopolc’ (King of Great Moravia, 870–894). Sophocles’ Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine periods from B.C. 146 to A.D. 1100: ‘Nemitzi’ Austrians, Germans. This name is met also in the Mohammedan authors. According to the Masálak-al-Absár, of the first half of the 14th century (transl. by Quatremère, N. et Ext. XXII. 284), the country of the Kipchaks extended (eastward) to the country of the Nemedj, which separates the Franks from the Russians. The Turks still call the Germans Niemesi; the Hungarians term them Nemet.”—H. C.]
Figure of a Tartar under the feet of Henry II., Duke of Silesia, Cracow, and Poland, from the tomb at Breslau of that Prince, killed in battle with the Tartar host at Liegnitz, 9th April, 1241.
[1] This doubt arises also where Abulfeda speaks of Majgaria in the far north, “the capital of the country of the Madjgars, a Turk race” of pagan nomads, by whom he seems to mean the Bashkirs. (Reinaud’s Abulf. I. 324.) For it is to the Bashkir country that the Franciscan travellers apply the term Great Hungary, showing that they were led to believe it the original seat of the Magyars. (Rubr. 274, Plan. Carpin. 747; and in same vol., D’Avezac, p. 491.) Further confusion arises from the fact that, besides the Uralian Bashkirs, there were, down to the 13th century, Bashkirs recognised as such, and as distinct from the Hungarians though akin to them, dwelling in Hungarian territory. Ibn Said, speaking of Sebennico (the cradle of the Polo family), says that when the Tartars advanced under its walls (1242?) “the Hungarians, the Bashkirs, and the Germans united their forces near the city” and gave the invaders a signal defeat. (Reinaud’s Abulf. I. 312; see also 294, 295.) One would gladly know what are the real names that M. Reinaud renders Hongrois and Allemands. The Christian Bashkirds of Khondemir, on the borders of the Franks, appear to be Hungarians. (See J. As., sér. IV. tom. xvii. p. 111.)
CHAPTER XXV.
Of the War that arose between Alau and Barca, and the Battles that they fought.
It was in the year 1261 of Christ’s incarnation that there arose a great discord between King Alau the Lord of the Tartars of the Levant, and Barca the King of the Tartars of the Ponent; the occasion whereof was a province that lay on the confines of both.[{1}]
⚜ (They exchange defiances, and make vast preparations.)
And when his preparations were complete, Alau the Lord of Levant set forth with all his people. They marched for many days without any adventure to speak of, and at last they reached a great plain which extends between the Iron Gates and the Sea of Sarain.[{2}] In this plain he pitched his camp in beautiful order; and I can assure you there was many a rich tent and pavilion therein, so that it looked indeed like a camp of the wealthy. Alau said he would tarry there to see if Barca and his people would come; so there they tarried, abiding the enemy’s arrival. This place where the camp was pitched was on the frontier of the two kings. Now let us speak of Barca and his people.[{3}]
[Note 1.]—“Que marcesoit à le un et à le autre;” in Scotch phrase, “which marched with both.”
[Note 2.]—Respecting the Iron Gates, see vol. i. p. 53. The Caspian is here called the Sea of Sarain, probably for Sarai, after the great city on the Volga. For we find it in the Catalan Map of 1375 termed the Sea of Sarra. Otherwise Sarain might have been taken for some corruption of Shirwán. (See vol. i. p. 59, note 8.)
[Note 3.]—The war here spoken of is the same which is mentioned in the very beginning of the book, as having compelled the two Elder Polos to travel much further eastward than they had contemplated.
Many jealousies and heart-burnings between the cousins Hulaku and Barka had existed for several years. The Mameluke Sultan Bibars seems also to have stimulated Barka to hostility with Hulaku. War broke out in 1262, when 30,000 men from Kipchak, under the command of Nogai, passed Derbend into the province of Shirwan. They were at first successful, but afterwards defeated. In December, Hulaku, at the head of a great army, passed Derbend, and routed the forces which met him. Ábáká, son of Hulaku, was sent on with a large force, and came upon the opulent camp of Barka beyond the Terek. They were revelling in its plunder, when Barka rallied his troops and came upon the army of Ábáká, driving them southward again, across the frozen river. The ice broke and many perished. Ábáká escaped, chased by Barka to Derbend. Hulaku returned to Tabriz and made great preparations for vengeance, but matters were apparently never carried further. Hence Polo’s is anything but an accurate account of the matter.
The following extract from Wassáf’s History, referring to this war, is a fine sample of that prince of rigmarole:
“In the winter of 662 (A.D. 1262–1263) when the Almighty Artist had covered the River of Derbend with plates of silver, and the Furrier of the Winter had clad the hills and heaths in ermine; the river being frozen hard as a rock to the depth of a spear’s length, an army of Mongols went forth at the command of Barka Aghul, filthy as Ghúls and Devils of the dry-places, and in numbers countless as the rain-drops,” etc. etc. (Golden Horde, p. 163 seqq.; Ilchan. I. 214 seqq.; Q. R. p. 393 seqq.; Q. Makrizi, I. 170; Hammer’s Wassáf, p. 93.)
CHAPTER XXVI.
How Barca and his Army advanced to meet Alau.
⚜ (Barca advances with 350,000 horse, encamps on the plain within 10 miles of Alau; addresses his men, announcing his intention of fighting after 3 days, and expresses his confidence of success as they are in the right and have 50,000 men more than the enemy.)
CHAPTER XXVII.
How Alau addressed his Followers.
⚜ (Alau calls together “a numerous parliament of his worthies”[1] and addresses them.)
[1] “Il asenble encore sez parlemant de grand quantités des buens homes.”
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Of the Great Battle between Alau and Barca.
⚜ (Description of the Battle in the usual style, with nothing characteristic. Results in the rout of Barca and great slaughter.)
CHAPTER XXIX.
How Totamangu was Lord of the Tartars of the Ponent.
You must know there was a Prince of the Tartars of the Ponent called Mongotemur, and from him the sovereignty passed to a young gentleman called Tolobuga. But Totamangu, who was a man of great influence, with the help of another Tartar King called Nogai, slew Tolobuga and got possession of the sovereignty. He reigned not long however, and at his death Toctai, an able and valiant man, was chosen sovereign in the place of Totamangu. But in the meantime two sons of that Tolobuga who was slain were grown up, and were likely youths, able and prudent.
So these two brothers, the sons of Totamangu, got together a goodly company and proceeded to the court of Toctai. When they had got thither they conducted themselves with great discretion, keeping on their knees till Toctai bade them welcome, and to stand up. Then the eldest addressed the Sovereign thus: “Good my Lord Toctai, I will tell you to the best of my ability why we be come hither. We are the sons of Totamangu, whom Tolobuga and Nogai slew, as thou well knowest. Of Tolobuga we will say no more, since he is dead, but we demand justice against Nogai as the slayer of our Father; and we pray thee as Sovereign Lord to summon him before thee and to do us justice. For this cause are we come!”[{1}]
(Toctai agrees to their demand and sends two messengers to summon Nogai, but Nogai mocks at the message and refuses to go. Whereupon Toctai sends a second couple of messengers.)
[Note 1.]—I have not attempted to correct the obvious confusion here; for in comparing the story related here with the regular historians we find the knots too complicated for solution.
In the text as it stands we first learn that Totamangu by help of Nogai kills Tolobuga, takes the throne, dies, and is succeeded by Toctai. But presently we find that it is the sons of Totamangu who claim vengeance from Toctai against Nogai for having aided Tolobuga to slay their father. Turning back to the list of princes in [chapter xxiv.] we find Totamangu indeed, but Tolobuga omitted altogether.
The outline of the history as gathered from Hammer and D’Ohsson is as follows:—
Noghai, for more than half a century one of the most influential of the Mongol Princes, was a great-great-grandson of Chinghiz, being the son of Tatar, son of Tewal, son of Juji. He is first heard of as a leader under Batu Khan in the great invasion of Europe (1241), and again in 1258 we find him leading an invasion of Poland.
In the latter quarter of the century he had established himself as practically independent, in the south of Russia. There is much about him in the Byzantine history of Pachymeres; Michael Palaeologus sought his alliance against the Bulgarians (of the south), and gave him his illegitimate daughter Euphrosyne to wife. Some years later Noghai gave a daughter of his own in marriage to Feodor Rostislawitz, Prince of Smolensk.
Mangu- or Mangku-Temur, the great-nephew and successor of Barka, died in 1280–81 leaving nine sons, but was succeeded by his brother Tudai-Mangku (Polo’s Totamangu). This Prince occupied himself chiefly with the company of Mahomedan theologians and was averse to the cares of government. In 1287 he abdicated, and was replaced by Tulabugha (Tolobuga), the son of an elder brother, whose power, however, was shared by other princes. Tulabugha quarrelled with old Noghai and was preparing to attack him. Noghai however persuaded him to come to an interview, and at this Tulabugha was put to death. Toktai, one of the sons of Mangku-Temur, who was associated with Noghai, obtained the throne of Kipchak. This was in 1291. We hear nothing of sons of Tudai-Mangku or Tulabugha.
Some years later we hear of a symbolic declaration of war sent by Toktai to Noghai, and then of a great battle between them near the banks of the Don, in which Toktai is defeated. Later, they are again at war, and somewhere south of the Dnieper Noghai is beaten. As he was escaping with a few mounted followers, he was cut down by a Russian horseman. “I am Noghai,” said the old warrior, “take me to Toktai.” The Russian took the bridle to lead him to the camp, but by the way the old chief expired. The horseman carried his head to the Khan; its heavy grey eyebrows, we are told, hung over and hid the eyes. Toktai asked the Russian how he knew the head to be that of Noghai. “He told me so himself,” said the man. And so he was ordered to execution for having presumed to slay a great Prince without orders. How like the story of David and the Amalekite in Ziklag! (2 Samuel, ch. i.).
The chronology of these events is doubtful. Rashiduddin seems to put the defeat of Toktai near the Don in 1298–1299, and a passage in Wassáf extracted by Hammer seems to put the defeat and death of Noghai about 1303. On the other hand, there is evidence that war between the two was in full flame in the beginning of 1296; Makrizi seems to report the news of a great defeat of Toktai by Noghai as reaching Cairo in Jumadah I. A.H. 697 or February–March, 1298. And Novairi, from whom D’Ohsson gives extracts, appears to put the defeat and death of Noghai in 1299. If the battle on the Don is that recounted by Marco it cannot be put later than 1297, and he must have had news of it at Venice, perhaps from relations at Soldaia. I am indeed reluctant to believe that he is not speaking of events of which he had cognizance before quitting the East; but there is no evidence in favour of that view. (Golden Horde, especially 269 seqq.; Ilchan. II. 347, and also p. 35; D’Ohsson, IV. Appendix; Q. Makrizi, IV. 60.)
The symbolical message mentioned above as sent by Toktai to Noghai, consisted of a hoe, an arrow, and a handful of earth. Noghai interpreted this as meaning, “If you hide in the earth, I will dig you out! If you rise to the heavens I will shoot you down! Choose a battle-field!” What a singular similarity we have here to the message that reached Darius 1800 years before, on this very ground, from Toktai’s predecessors, alien from him in blood it may be, but identical in customs and mental characteristics:—
“At last Darius was in a great strait, and the Kings of the Scythians having ascertained this, sent a herald bearing, as gifts to Darius, a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows.... Darius’s opinion was that the Scythians meant to give themselves up to him.... But the opinion of Gobryas, one of the seven who had deposed the Magus, did not coincide with this; he conjectured that the presents intimated: ‘Unless, O Persians, ye become birds, and fly into the air, or become mice and hide yourselves beneath the earth, or become frogs and leap into the lakes, ye shall never return home again, but be stricken by these arrows.’ And thus the other Persians interpreted the gifts.” (Herodotus, by Carey, IV. 131, 132.) Again, more than 500 years after Noghai and Toktai were laid in the steppe, when Muraview reached the court of Khiva in 1820, it happened that among the Russian presents offered to the Khan were two loaves of sugar on the same tray with a quantity of powder and shot. The Uzbegs interpreted this as a symbolical demand: Peace or War? (V. en Turcomanie, p. 165.)
CHAPTER XXX.
Of the Second Message that Toctai sent to Nogai, and his Reply.
⚜ (They carry a threat of attack if he should refuse to present himself before Toctai. Nogai refuses with defiance. Both sides prepare for war, but Toctai’s force is the greater in numbers.)
CHAPTER XXXI.
How Toctai marched against Nogai.
⚜ (The usual description of their advance to meet one another. Toctai is joined by the two sons of Totamangu with a goodly company. They encamp within ten miles of each other in the Plain of Nerghi.)
CHAPTER XXXII.
How Toctai and Nogai address their People, and the next Day join Battle.
⚜ (The whole of this is in the usual formula without any circumstances worth transcribing. The forces of Nogai though inferior in numbers are the better men-at-arms. King Toctai shows great valour.)
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The valiant Feats and Victory of King Nogai.
⚜ (The deeds of Nogai surpass all; the enemy scatter like a flock, and are pursued, losing 60,000 men, but Toctai escapes, and so do the two sons of Totamangu.)
CHAPTER XXXIV. AND LAST
Conclusion.[1]
And now ye have heard all that we can tell you about the Tartars and the Saracens and their customs, and likewise about the other countries of the world as far as our researches and information extend. Only we have said nothing whatever about the Greater Sea and the provinces that lie round it, although we know it thoroughly. But it seems to me a needless and useless task to speak about places which are visited by people every day. For there are so many who sail all about that sea constantly, Venetians, and Genoese, and Pisans, and many others, that everybody knows all about it, and that is the reason that I pass it over and say nothing of it.
Of the manner in which we took our departure from the Court of the Great Kaan you have heard at the beginning of the Book, in that chapter where we told you of all the vexation and trouble that Messer Maffeo and Messer Nicolo and Messer Marco had about getting the Great Kaan’s leave to go; and in the same chapter is related the lucky chance that led to our departure. And you may be sure that but for that lucky chance, we should never have got away in spite of all our trouble, and never have got back to our country again. But I believe it was God’s pleasure that we should get back in order that people might learn about the things that the world contains. For according to what has been said in the introduction at the beginning of the Book, there never was a man, be he Christian or Saracen or Tartar or Heathen, who ever travelled over so much of the world as did that noble and illustrious citizen of the City of Venice, Messer Marco the son of Messer Nicolo Polo.
Thanks be to God! Amen! Amen!
[1] This conclusion is not found in any copy except in the Crusca Italian, and, with a little modification, in another at Florence, belonging to the Pucci family. It is just possible that it was the embellishment of a transcriber or translator; but in any case it is very old, and serves as an epilogue.
Asiatic Warriors of Polo’s Age. (From a contemporary Persian Miniature.)