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}]