[Note 1.]—“Several of the (Chinese) gods have horns on the forehead, or wear animals’ heads; some have three eyes.... Some are represented in the Indian manner with a multiplicity of arms. We saw at Yang-cheu fu a goddess with thirty arms.” (Deguignes, I. 364–366.)
The reference to any particular form of idolatry here is vague. But in Tibetan Buddhism, with which Marco was familiar, all these extravagances are prominent, though repugnant to the more orthodox Buddhism of the South.
When the Dalai Lama came to visit the Altun Khan, to secure the reconversion of the Mongols in 1577, he appeared as a manifest embodiment of the Bodhisatva Avalokiteçvara, with four hands, of which two were always folded across the breast! The same Bodhisatva is sometimes represented with eleven heads. Manjushri manifests himself in a golden body with 1000 hands and 1000 Pátras or vessels, in each of which were 1000 figures of Sakya visible, etc. (Koeppen, II. 137; Vassilyev, 200.)
[Note 2.]—Polo seems in this passage to be speaking of the more easterly Islands of the Archipelago, such as the Philippines, the Moluccas, etc., but with vague ideas of their position.
[Note 3.]—In this passage alone Polo makes use of the now familiar name of China. “Chin,” as he says, “in the language of those Isles means Manzi.” In fact, though the form Chin is more correctly Persian, we do get the exact form China from “the language of those Isles,” i.e. from the Malay. China is also used in Japanese.
What he says about the Ocean and the various names of its parts is nearly a version of a passage in the geographical Poem of Dionysius, ending:—
Οὕτωϛ Ὠκεανὸς περιδέδρομε λαῖαν ἅπασαν
Τοῖος ἐὼν καὶ τοῖα μετ’ ἀνδράσιν οὐνόμαθ’ ἔλκων (42–3).
So also Abulfeda: “This is the sea which flows from the Ocean Sea.... This sea takes the names of the countries it washes. Its eastern extremity is called the Sea of Chin ... the part west of this is called the Sea of India ... then comes the Sea of Fárs, the Sea of Berbera, and lastly the Sea of Kolzum” (Red Sea).
[Note 4.]—The Ramusian here inserts a short chapter, shown by the awkward way in which it comes in to be a very manifest interpolation, though possibly still an interpolation by the Traveller’s hand:—
“Leaving the port of Zayton you sail westward and something south-westward for 1500 miles, passing a gulf called Cheinan, having a length of two months’ sail towards the north. Along the whole of its south-east side it borders on the province of Manzi, and on the other side with Anin and Coloman, and many other provinces formerly spoken of. Within this Gulf there are innumerable Islands, almost all well-peopled; and in these is found a great quantity of gold-dust, which is collected from the sea where the rivers discharge. There is copper also, and other things; and the people drive a trade with each other in the things that are peculiar to their respective Islands. They have also a traffic with the people of the mainland, selling them gold and copper and other things; and purchasing in turn what they stand in need of. In the greater part of these Islands plenty of corn grows. This gulf is so great, and inhabited by so many people, that it seems like a world in itself.”
This passage is translated by Marsden with much forcing, so as to describe the China Sea, embracing the Philippine Islands, etc.; but, as a matter of fact, it seems clearly to indicate the writer’s conception as of a great gulf running up into the continent between Southern China and Tong-king for a length equal to two months’ journey.
The name of the gulf, Cheinan, i.e. Heinan, may either be that of the Island so called, or, as I rather incline to suppose, ’An-nan, i.e. Tong-king. But even by Camoens, writing at Macao in 1559–1560, the Gulf of Hainan is styled an unknown sea (though this perhaps is only appropriate to the prophetic speaker):—
“Vês, corre a costa, que Champa se chama,
Cuja mata he do pao cheiroso ornada:
Vês, Cauchichina está de escura fama,
E de Aināo vê a incognita enseada” (X. 129).
And in Sir Robert Dudley’s Arcano del Mare (Firenze, 1647), we find a great bottle-necked gulf, of some 5½° in length, running up to the north from Tong-king, very much as I have represented the Gulf of Cheinan in the attempt to realise Polo’s Own Geography. (See map in Introductory Essay.)
CHAPTER V.
Of the Great Country called Chamba.
You must know that on leaving the port of Zayton you sail west-south-west for 1500 miles, and then you come to a country called Chamba,[{1}] a very rich region, having a king of its own. The people are Idolaters and pay a yearly tribute to the Great Kaan, which consists of elephants and nothing but elephants. And I will tell you how they came to pay this tribute.
It happened in the year of Christ 1278 that the Great Kaan sent a Baron of his called Sagatu with a great force of horse and foot against this King of Chamba, and this Baron opened the war on a great scale against the King and his country.
Now the King [whose name was Accambale] was a very aged man, nor had he such a force as the Baron had. And when he saw what havoc the Baron was making with his kingdom he was grieved to the heart. So he bade messengers get ready and despatched them to the Great Kaan. And they said to the Kaan: “Our Lord the King of Chamba salutes you as his liege-lord, and would have you to know that he is stricken in years and long hath held his realm in peace. And now he sends you word by us that he is willing to be your liegeman, and will send you every year a tribute of as many elephants as you please. And he prays you in all gentleness and humility that you would send word to your Baron to desist from harrying his kingdom and to quit his territories. These shall henceforth be at your absolute disposal, and the King shall hold them of you.”
When the Great Kaan had heard the King’s ambassage he was moved with pity, and sent word to that Baron of his to quit that kingdom with his army, and to carry his arms to the conquest of some other country; and as soon as this command reached them they obeyed it. Thus it was then that this King became vassal of the Great Kaan, and paid him every year a tribute of 20 of the greatest and finest elephants that were to be found in the country.
But now we will leave that matter, and tell you other particulars about the King of Chamba.