History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0447/04476.txt

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$Title{Travels Of Marco Polo
Part IV}
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$Author{Polo, Marco}
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$Subject{khan
jengis
prester
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Title:       Travels Of Marco Polo
Book:        Book First: Here The Book Begins; And First It Speaks Of The Lesser Armenia
Author:      Polo, Marco

Part IV

Chapter XLII

Of The Province Of Chingintalas

     Chingintalas is also a province at the verge of the Desert, and lying
between northwest and north.  It has an extent of sixteen days' journey, and
belongs to the great Khan, and contains numerous towns and villages.  There
are three different races of people in it - Idolaters, Saracens, and some
Nestorian Christians.  At the northern extremity of this province there is a
mountain in which are excellent veins of steel and ondanique.  And you must
know that in the same mountain there is a vein of the substance from which
salamander is made.  For the real truth is that the salamander is no beast,
as they allege in our part of the world, but is a substance found in the
earth; and I will tell you about it.

     Everybody must be aware that it can be no animal's nature to live in
fire, seeing that every animal is composed of all the four elements.  Now I,
Marco Polo, had a Turkish acquaintance of the name of Zurficar, and he was a
very clever fellow.  And this Turk related to Messer Marco Polo how he had
lived three years in that region on behalf of the great Khan, in order to
procure those salamanders for him.  He said that the way they got them was by
digging in that mountain till they found a certain vein.  The substance of
this vein was then taken and crushed, and when so treated it divides as it
were into fibres of wool, which they set forth to dry.  When dry, these
fibres were pounded in a great copper mortar, and then washed, so as to
remove all the earth and to leave only the fibres like fibres of wool.  These
were then spun, and made into napkins.  When first made these napkins are not
very white, but by putting them into the fire for a while they come out as
white as snow.  And so again whenever they become dirty they are bleached by
being put in the fire.

     Now this, and nought else, is the truth about the salamander, and the
people of the country all say the same.  Any other account of the matter is
fabulous nonsense.  And I may add that they have at Rome a napkin of this
stuff, which the Grand Khan sent to the Pope to make a wrapper for the holy
sudarium of Jesus Christ.

     We will now quit this subject, and I will proceed with my account of the
countries lying in the direction between northeast and east.

Chapter XLIII

Of The Province Of Su-Chau

     On leaving the province of which I spoke before, you ride ten days
between northeast and east, and in all that way you find no human dwelling,
or next to none, so that there is nothing for our book to speak of.

     At the end of those ten days you come to another province called Su-
chau, in which there are numerous towns and villages.  The chief city is
called Su-chau.  The people are partly Christians and partly idolaters, and
all are subject to the great Khan.

     The great general province to which all these three provinces belong is
called Tangut.

     Over all the mountains of this province rhubarb is found in great
abundance, and there merchants come to buy it, and carry it then all over the
world.  Travelers, however, dare not visit those mountains with any cattle
but those of the country, for a certain plant grows there which is so
poisonous that cattle which eat it lose their hoofs.  The cattle of the
country know it and eschew it.  The people live by agriculture, and have not
much trade.  They are of a brown complexion.  The whole of the province is
healthy.

Chapter XLIV

Of The City Of Kan-Chau

     Kan-Chau is also a city of Tangut and a very great and noble one.
Indeed it is the capital and place of government of the whole province of
Tangut.  The people are idolaters, Saracens, and Christians, and the latter
have three very fine churches in the city, while the idolaters have many
minsters and abbeys after their fashion.  In these they have an enormous
number of idols, both small and great, certain of the latter being a good ten
paces in stature; some of them being of wood, others of clay, and others yet
of stone.  They are all highly polished, and then covered with gold.  The
great idols of which I speak lie at length.  And round about them there are
other figures of considerable size, as if adoring and paying homage before
them.

     Now, as I have not yet given you particulars about the customs of these
idolaters, I will proceed to tell you about them.

     You must know that there are among them certain religious recluses who
lead a more virtuous life than the rest.  These abstain from all lechery,
though they do not indeed regard it as a deadly sin; however if any one sin
against nature they condemn him to death.  They have an ecclesiastical
calendar as we have; and there are five days in the month that they observe
particularly; and on these five days they would on no account either
slaughter any animal or eat flesh meat.  On those days, moreover, they
observe much greater abstinence altogether than on other days.

     Among these people a man may take thirty wives, more or less, if he can
but afford to do so, each having wives in proportion to his wealth and means;
but the first wife is always held in highest consideration.  The men endow
their wives with cattle, slaves, and money, according to their ability.  And
if a man dislikes any one of his wives, he just turns her off and takes
another.  They take to wife their cousins and their fathers' widows (always
excepting the man's own mother), holding to be no sin many things that we
think grievous sins, and, in short, they live like beasts.

     Messer Maffeo and Messer Marco Polo dwelt a whole year in this city when
on a mission.

     Now we will leave this and tell you about other provinces towards the
north, for we are going to take you a sixty days' journey in that direction.

Chapter XLV

Of The City Of Etzina

     When you leave the city of Kan-chau you ride for twelve days, and then
reach a city called Etzina, which is towards the north on the verge of the
sandy desert; it belongs to the province of Tangut.  The people are
idolaters, and possess plenty of camels and cattle, and the country produces
a number of good falcons, both sakers and lanners.  The inhabitants live by
their cultivation and their cattle, for they have no trade.  At this city you
must needs lay in victuals for forty days, because when you quit Etzina, you
enter on a desert which extends forty days' journey to the north, and on
which you meet with no habitation nor baiting place.  In the summer time,
indeed, you will fall in with people, but in the winter the cold is too
great.  You also meet with wild beasts for there are some small pine woods
here and there, and with numbers of wild asses.  When you have traveled these
forty days across the desert you come to a certain province lying to the
north.  Its name you shall hear presently.

Chapter XLVI

Of The City Of Karakorum

     Karakorum is a city of some three miles in compass.  It is surrounded by
a strong earthen rampart, for stone is scarce there.  And beside it there is
a great citadel wherein is a fine palace in which the governor resides.  It
is the first city that the Tartars possessed after they issued from their own
country.  And now I will tell you all about how they first acquired dominion
and spread over the world.

     Originally the Tartars dwelt in the north on the borders of Manchuria.
Their country was one of great plains; and there were no towns or villages in
it, but excellent pasture lands, with great rivers and many sheets of water;
in fact it was a very fine and extensive region.  But there was no sovereign
in the land.  They did, however, pay tax and tribute to a great prince who
was called in their tongue Ung Khan, the same that we call Prester John, him
in fact about whose great dominion all the world talks.  The tribute he had
of them was one beast out of every ten, and also a tithe of all their other
gear.

     Now it came to pass that the Tartars multiplied exceedingly.  And when
Prester John saw how great a people they had become, he began to fear that he
should have trouble from them.  So he made a scheme to distribute them over
sundry countries, and sent one of his barons to carry this out.  When the
Tartars became aware of this they took it much amiss, and with one consent
they left their country and went off across a desert to a distant region
towards the north, where Prester John could not get at them to annoy them.
Thus they revolted from his authority and paid him tribute no longer.  And so
things continued for a time.

Chapter XLVII

Of Jengis, And How He Became The First Khan Of The Tarters

     Now it came to pass in the year of Christ's incarnation 1187 that the
Tartars made them a king whose name was Jengis Khan.  He was a man of great
worth, and of great ability, eloquence, and valor.  And as soon as the news
that he had been chosen king was spread abroad through those countries, all
the Tartars in the world came to him and owned him for their lord.  And right
well did he maintain the sovereignty they had given him.  What shall I say?
The Tartars gathered to him in astonishing multitude, and when he saw such
numbers he made a great furniture of spears and arrows and such other arms as
they used, and set about the conquest of all those regions till he had
conquered eight provinces.  When he conquered a province he did no harm to
the people or their property, but merely established some of his own men in
the country along with a proportion of theirs, while he led the remainder to
the conquest of other provinces.  And when those whom he had conquered became
aware of how well and safely he protected them against all others, and how
they suffered no ill at his hands, and saw what a noble prince he was, then
they joined him heart and soul and became his devoted followers.  And when he
had thus gathered such a multitude that they seemed to cover the earth, he
began to think of conquering a great part of the world.  Now in the year of
Christ 1200 he sent an embassy to Prester John, and desired to have his
daughter to wife.  But when Prester John heard the Jengis Khan demanded his
daughter in marriage he waxed very wroth, and said to the envoys, "What
impudence is this, to ask my daughter to wife!  Wist he not well that he was
my liegeman and serf?  Get ye back to him and tell him that I had liever set
my daughter in the fire than give her in marriage to him, and that he
deserves death at my hand, rebel and traitor that he is!" So he bade the
envoys begone at once, and never come into his presence again.  The envoys,
on receiving this reply, departed straightway, and made haste to their
master, and related all that Prester John had ordered them to say, keeping
nothing back.

Chapter XLVIII

How Jengis Mustered His People To March Against Prester John

     When Jengis Khan heard the brutal message that Prester John had sent
him, such rage seized him that his heart came nigh to bursting within him,
for he was a man of a very lofty spirit.  At last he spoke, and that so loud
that all who were present could hear him: "Never more might he be prince if
he took not revenge for the brutal message of Prester John, and such revenge
that insult never in this world was so dearly paid for.  And before long
Prester John should know whether he was his serf or no!"

     So then he mustered all his forces, and levied such a host as never
before was seen or heard of, sending word to Prester John to be on his
defense.  And when Prester John had sure tidings that Jengis was really
coming against him with such a multitude, he still professed to treat it as
a jest and a trifle, for, quoth he, "these be no soldiers." Nevertheless he
marshaled his forces and mustered his people, and made great preparations, in
order that if Jengis did come, he might take him and put him to death.  In
fact, he marshaled such a host of many different nations that it was a
world's wonder.

     And so both sides got them ready to battle.  And why should I make a
long story of it?  Jengis Khan with all his host arrived at a vast and
beautiful plain which was called Tenduc, belonging to Prester John, and there
he pitched his camp; and so great was the multitude of his people that it was
impossible to number them.  And when he got tidings that Prester John was
coming, he rejoiced greatly, for the place afforded a fine and ample battle
ground, so he was right glad to tarry for him there, and greatly longed for
his arrival.

     But now leave we Jengis and his host, and let us return to Prester John
and his people.

Chapter XLIX

How Prester John Marched To Meet Jengis

     Now the story goes that when Prester John became aware that Jengis with
his host was marching against him, he went forth to meet him with all his
forces, and advanced until he reached the same plain of Tenduc, and pitched
his camp over against that of Jengis Khan at a distance of twenty miles.  And
then both armies remained at rest for two days that they might be fresher and
heartier for battle.

     So when the two great hosts were pitched on the plains of Tenduc as you
have heard, Jengis Khan one day summoned before him his astrologers, both
Christians and Saracens, and desired them to let him know which of the two
hosts would gain in battle, his own or Prester John's.  The Saracens tried to
ascertain, but were unable to give a true answer; the Christians, however,
did give a true answer, and showed manifestly beforehand how the event should
be.  For they got a cane and split it lengthwise, and laid one half on this
side and one half on that, allowing no one to touch the pieces.  And one
piece of cane they called Jengis Khan, and the other piece they called
Prester John.  And then they said to Jengis: "Now mark!  and you will see the
event of the battle, and who shall have the best of it; for whose cane soever
shall get above the other, to him shall victory be." He replied that he would
fain see it, and bade them begin.  Then the Christian astrologers read a
Psalm out of the Psalter, and went through other incantations.  And lo!
while all were beholding, the cane that bore the name of Jengis Khan, without
being touched by anybody, advanced to the other that bore the name of Prester
John, and got on the top of it.  When the prince saw that he was greatly
delighted, and seeing how in this matter he found the Christians to tell the
truth, he always treated them with great respect, and held them for men of
truth forever after.

Chapter L

The Battle Between Jengis Khan And Prester John

     And after both sides had rested well those two days, they armed for the
fight and engaged in desperate combat; and it was the greatest battle that
ever was seen.  The numbers that were slain on both sides were very great,
but in the end Jengis Khan obtained the victory.  And in the battle Prester
John was slain.  And from that time forward, day by day, his kingdom passed
into the hands of Jengis Khan till the whole was conquered.

     I may tell you that Jengis Khan reigned six years after this battle,
engaged continually in conquest, and taking many a province and city and
stronghold.  But at the end of those six years he went against a certain
castle that was called Ho-chau, and there he was shot with an arrow in the
knee, so that he died of his wound.  A great pity it was, for he was a
valiant man and wise.

     I will now tell you who reigned after Jengis, and then about the manners
and customs of the Tartars.

Chapter LI

Of Those Who Reign After Jengis Khan, And Of The Customs Of The Tartars

     Now the next that reigned after Jengis Khan, their first lord, was Kuyuk
Khan, and the third prince was Batu Khan, and the fourth was Hulagu Khan, the
fifth Mangu Khan, the sixth Kublai Khan, who is the sovereign now reigning,
and is more potent than any of the five who went before him; in fact, if you
were to take all those five together, they would not be so powerful as he is.
Nay, I will say yet more; for if you were to put together all the Christians
in the world, with their emperors and their kings, the whole of these
Christians, - aye, and throw in the Saracens to boot, - would not have such
power, or be able to do so much as this Kublai, who is the lord of all the
Tartars in the world, those of the Levant and of the Ponent included; for
these are all his liegemen and subjects.  I mean to show you all about this
great power of his in this book of ours.

     You should be told that all the grand Khans, and all the descendants of
Jengis their first lord, are carried to a mountain that is called Altay to be
interred.  Wheresoever the sovereign may die, he is carried to his burial in
that mountain with his predecessors; no matter if the place of his death were
one hundred days' journey distant, thither must he be carried to his burial.

     Let me tell you a strange thing, too.  When they are carrying the body
of any emperor to be buried with the others, the convoy that goes with the
body doth put to the sword all whom they fall in with on the road, saying:
"Go and wait upon your lord in the other world!" For they do in sooth believe
that all such as they slay in this manner do go to serve their lord in the
other world.  They do the same too with horses; for when the emperor dies,
they kill all his best horses, in order that he may have the use of them in
the other world, as they believe.  And I tell you as a certain truth, that
when Mangu Khan died, more than twenty thousand persons, who chanced to meet
the body on its way, were slain in the manner I have told.

Chapter LII

Concerning The Customs Of The Tartars

     Now that I have begun to speak of the Tartars, I have plenty to tell you
on that subject.  The Tartar custom is to spend the winter in warm plains,
where they find good pasture for their cattle, while in summer they betake
themselves to a cool climate among the mountains and valleys, where water is
to be found as well as woods and pastures.

     Their houses are circular, and are made of wands covered with felts.
These are carried along with them wherever they go; for the wands are so
strongly bound together, and likewise so well combined, that the frame can be
made very light.  Whenever they erect these huts the door is always to the
south.  They also have wagons covered with black felt so efficaciously that
no rain can get in.  These are drawn by oxen and camels, and the women and
children travel in them.  The women do the buying and selling, and whatever
is necessary to provide for the husband and household; for the men all lead
the life of gentlemen, troubling themselves about nothing but hunting and
hawking, and looking after their goshawks and falcons, unless it be the
practice of warlike exercises.

     They live on the milk and meat which their herds supply, and on the
produce of the chase, and they eat all kinds of flesh, including that of
horses and dogs, and Pharaoh's rats, of which last there are great numbers in
burrows on those plains.  Their drink is mare's milk.

     They are very careful not to meddle with each other's wives, and will
not do so on any account, holding that to be an evil and abominable thing.
The women, too, are very good and loyal to their husbands, and notable
housewives withal.  Ten or twenty of them will dwell together in charming
peace and unity, nor shall you ever hear an ill word among them.

     The marriage customs of Tartars are as follows.  Any man may take a
hundred wives if he so please, and if he is able to keep them.  But the first
wife is ever held most in honor, and as the most legitimate, and the same
applies to the sons whom she may bear.  The husband gives a marriage payment
to his wife's mother, and the wife brings nothing to her husband.  They have
more children than other people, because they have so many wives.  They may
marry their cousins, and if a father dies, his son may take any of the wives,
his own mother always excepted; that is to say the eldest son may do this,
but no other.  A man may also take the wife of his own brother after the
latter's death.  Their weddings are celebrated with great ado.

Chapter LIII

Concerning The God Of The Tartars

     This is the fashion of their religion.  They say there is a most high
god of heaven, whom they worship daily with thurible and incense, but they
pray to him only for health of mind and body.  But they have also a certain
other god of theirs called Natigay, and they say he is the god of the earth,
who watches over their children, cattle, and crops.  They show him great
worship and honor, and every man has a figure of him in his house, made of
felt and cloth; and they also make in the same manner images of his wife and
children.  The wife they put on the left hand, and the children in front.
And when they eat, they take the fat of the meat and grease the god's mouth
withal, as well as the mouths of his wife and children.  Then they take of
the broth and sprinkle it before the door of the house; and that done, they
deem that their god and his family have had their share of the dinner.

     Their drink is mare's milk, prepared in such a way that you would take
it for white wine; and a right good drink it is, called by them Kumiz.

     The clothes of the wealthy Tartars are for the most part of gold and
silk stuffs, lined with costly furs, such as sable and ermine, vair and fox
skin, in the richest fashion.