A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01 · Chapter 38Chapter XI. (1)
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Travels of Marco Polo, through Tartary, China, the Islands of India, and most of Asia, from A. D. 1260 to 1295 .[1]
[1] Harris, I, 593. Forst. Voy. and Disc. p. 117. Modern Geogr. II. xvi.
Nicolo Polo, the father of this intelligent early traveller, and Maffei Polo his uncle, were Venetian gentlemen engaged in commerce; and appear to have gone into the east, in the prosecution of their trade, in the year 1260. They resided far some time at the court of Kublai-khan, the great emperor of the Mongals or Tartars; and, returning to Venice in 1269, they found that the wife of Nicolo had died during their absence, leaving a son Marco, the author of the following travels, of whom she was pregnant at the time of their departure. These circumstances are detailed in the first section of this chapter, but the date which has been usually assigned for the commencement of this first journey, 1250, is evidently corrupted, as will appear from the following considerations, derived from a comparison of the chronology of the kings and princes, who are mentioned in the travels as reigning at the time. The high probability is, that the obvious mistake, of assuming the year 1250 as the era of the first journey, arose from a careless substitution of the figure 5 for 6 in transcription.
Assuming the corrected date of 1260 as the commencement of the first journey of Nicolo and Maffei Polo, this will appear to be consonant with the chronology of the princes with whose reigns their travels were connected; while the date of 1250, adopted by Ramusio and Muller, is totally irreconcilable with the truth of history. They remained one year at the leskar or camp of Bereke-khan, whence they travelled into Bochara, where they tarried three years. From thence they spent one year on their journey to the court of Kublai-khan, and were three years on their journey back to Venice. But as they remained some time at the residence of Kublai-khan, one year may be allowed for that circumstance; and this first journey may therefore be allowed to have occupied nine years in all.
Kublai-khan reigned supreme emperor of the Mongals from 1259 to 1294, in which last year he died at eighty years of age. If, therefore, Nicolo and Maffei had set out upon their first journey in 1250, they must have arrived at the imperial residence of Cambalu, or Pekin, in 1255, at the latest, or four years before Kublai-khan ascended the throne. Their first journey commenced while Baldwin II. was emperor of Constantinople, who reigned from 1234 to 1261. The khan of Kiptschak, or the western division of the vast empire of the Mongals, at the time of this journey, was Bereke, who ruled from 1256 to 1266. Holagu-khan, who was then at war with Bereke, did not begin to reign till 1258. Hence it follows, that they could not have commenced their first journey at the very earliest before 1258, or 1259 rather; as it is not to be supposed that Holagu would enter upon a dangerous war in the first year of his reign. Upon the whole, therefore, the date of 1260, for the commencement of the first journey, as already observed, is perfectly consistent with the chronology of history.
The year of their return to Venice, 1269, is agreed upon on all hands; and as Marco was born in the first year of their absence, he would then be about nine years of age. Ramusio, who dates the commencement of the first journey in 1250, supposes Marco to have been fifteen years of age at the return of his father and uncle, which is absurd; as, if the era assumed by Ramusio were possibly true, he must then have been in his nineteenth year.
According to the opinion of Mr J. R. Forster, the commencement of the second journey in which Marco was engaged, must have been in 1271; and he founds this opinion on the circumstance, that Gregory IX. had then been elected pope, from whom they carried letters for Kublai-khan. But it will appear from the travels themselves, that the three Polos had commenced their journey previously to the election of that sovereign pontiff, and that they were detained some time in Armenia, in consequence of an express sent after them for the purpose, that they might there wait for his final instructions. They may, therefore, have commenced this second journey in 1270. We only know, however, that they set out from Venice for a second journey into Tartary, soon after their return from the first, in 1269; and that they carried young Marco along with them. On his appearance at the court of Cambalu, Kublai-khan took a fancy to the young Venetian, and caused him to be instructed in four of the principal languages which were spoken in the extensive dominions of the Mongals. Marco was afterwards employed by the khan, for a considerable number of years, in several important affairs, as will appear in the relation of his travels.
At length, the three Polos returned to Venice, in 1295, after an absence of twenty-five or twenty-six years, during which long period they had never been heard of by their friends and countrymen, seventeen years of which Marco had been employed in the service of the great khan. On their return to their own house in Venice, they were entirely forgotten by their relations and former acquaintances, and had considerable difficulty to establish their identity, and to get themselves recognized by their family, and were obliged to use extraordinary means to recover the respect which was their due, and an acknowledgement of their name, family, and rank, the particulars of which will be found in the travels themselves.
About three years after the return of these adventurous travellers, hostilities arose between the republics of Genoa and Venice. The Genoese admiral, Lampa Doria, came to the island of Curzola with a fleet of seventy gallies, to oppose whom, the Venetians fitted out a great naval force under Andrea Dandolo, under whom Marco Polo had the command of a galley. The Venetians were totally defeated in a great naval engagement, with the loss of their admiral and eighty-five ships, and Marco Polo had the misfortune to be among the number of the prisoners.
Harris alleges that he remained a prisoner during several years, in spite of every offer of ransom that was made for his liberation. But in this he must have mistaken, or been misled by the authorities which he trusted to, as peace was concluded in 1299, the year immediately subsequent to the naval engagement in which he was made prisoner. While in prison at Genoa, many of the young nobility are said to have resorted to Marco, to listen to the recital of his wonderful travels and surprizing adventures; and they are said to have prevailed upon him to send to Venice for the notes which he had drawn up during his peregrinations, by means of which the following relation is said to have been written in Latin from has dictation. From the original Latin, the account of his travels was afterwards translated into Italian; and from this again, abridgements were afterwards made in Latin and diffused over Europe.
According to Baretti[2], the travels of Marco Polo were dictated by him in 1299, while in the prison of Genoa, to one Rustigielo, an inhabitant of Pisa, who was his fellow prisoner. They were afterwards published in Italian, and subsequently translated into Latin by Pessuri, a Dominican monk of Bologna. Copies of the original manuscript, though written in the Venetian dialect, which is extremely different from the Tuscan or pure Italian, were multiplied with great rapidity in all parts of Italy, and even made their way into France and Germany. From one or more of these, corrupted by the carelessness or ignorance of transcribers, some of whom may have abridged the work, or may even have interpolated it from other sources, a thing quite common before the invention of printing, the Latin translations may have been made and circulated over Europe. Ramusio, an early editor of voyages and travels, published these travels in an Italian translation from the Latin, which he erroneously supposed to have been the original dictation of Marco to Rustigielo; and many other editions have been published in the various languages of Europe, but all from one or other of these corrupted transcripts or translations.
[2] Ital Libr. p. iv.
A manuscript of the travels of Marco polo, in the Venetian dialect, was long preserved by the Soranza family at Venice, but whether this now exists, or has ever been published, is unknown. Mr Pinkerton informs us [3], that a genuine edition of these travels, probably from the original MS. either of Marco himself, after his return from Genoa, or from that of his amanuensis Rustigielo, was published at Trevigi in 1590, in the dialect of Venice, which has hitherto escaped the attention of all editors and commentators. This curious publication is often worded in the names of all the three travellers, father, uncle, and son; but when the peculiar travels of Marco are indicated, his name only is employed. In the former case, the language runs thus, "We, Nicolo, Maffei, and Marco, have heard, seen, and know, &c.:" In the latter, "I Marco was in that place, and saw, &c." In this Venetian edition, the names of places and persons are often widely different from those in the other editions, and probably more genuine and correct. But that publication being at present inaccessible, we are under the necessity of being contented with the edition of Harris, in which he professes to have carefully collated the edition of Ramusio with most of the other translations, and with an original MS. in the royal library of Prussia. This latter labour, however, he seems to have taken entirely upon trust from Muller, a German editor and translator, probably through the intermediation of Bergeron, an early French editor of voyages and travels. The only freedom which has been assumed in the present edition is, by dividing it into sections for more ready consultation and reference, and by the addition of explanatory notes from various sources.
[3] Mod. Geogr. II. xvi.
Marco Polo is the chief of all the early modern discoverers; having been the first who communicated to Europe any distinct ideas of the immense regions of Asia, from the Euxine eastwards, through the vast extent of Tartary to China and Japan; and the very first author who has made any mention of that distant insular sovereignty. Even Columbus is supposed, with some considerable probability, to have been prompted to his enterprize, which ended in the discovery of America, by the study of these travels; believing, that by a western course through the unexplored Atlantic, he should find a comparatively short passage to those eastern regions of the Indies, which Polo had visited, described, or indicated. In this view he was, however, so far misled in his estimation of the distance, by the erroneously spread-out longitudes of Ptolomy, bringing these regions much farther towards the east, and consequently nearer by the west, than their actual situation; and was stopped in his western course, by the important and unexpected discovery of many islands, and a vast interposed continent; which, from preconceived theory, he named the West Indies.
Such is the account of these travels which has been handed down to us from various sources, and which their importance and intrinsic merit have induced us to record at some length. Of these adventurous travellers, some notices yet remain, which may be worthy of being preserved. Signior Maffio Polo, the uncle of Marco, became a magistrate of Venice, and lived for some time in much respect among his countrymen. Nicolo Polo, the father of Marco, is said to have married during the captivity of his son at Genoa, and to have left three children by this second marriage. Marco himself married after his return to Venice from Genoa, and left two daughters, Moretta and Fantina, but had no male issue. He is said to have received among his countrymen the name of Marco Millioni, because he and his family had acquired a fortune of a million of ducats in the east. He died as he had lived, universally beloved and respected by all who knew him; for, with the advantages of birth and fortune, he was humble and beneficent and employed his great riches, and the interest he possessed in the state, only to do good.
SECTION I.
Introductory General Account of the whole Travels, from the commencement of the first Journey of Nicolo and Maffei Polo, in 1260, to their final return along with Marco to Venice, in 1295.
(Illustration: MAP OF THE Eastern part of Tartary & ADJACENT COUNTRIES)
In the year 1260, when Baldwin was emperor of Continople, two brothers of an illustrious family at Venice, Nicolo and Maffei Polo, embarked in a vessel which was laden with a various assortment of merchandize on their own account; and, after traversing the Mediterranean and Bosphoros with a fair wind, they arrived in safety at Constantinople. Having remained for some time in the imperial city, they crossed the Great Sea to Soldadia[1], from thence they went to the court of a Tartar prince, named Barha[2], who lived in the towns of Bolgara and Alsara[3]. To this prince they shewed the fine jewels which they had brought for sale, and presented him with some of the most valuable. He was far from ungrateful for their presents, which he kindly accepted, and for which he made them returns of greater value. Having remained a whole year at his court, they were desirous of returning to Venice; but before they had any opportunity of departing, a war broke out between Barha and another Tartar prince named Arau[4]; the armies of these rivals came to a battle, in which Barha was defeated, and obliged to fly. By this unfortunate incident, the roads to the westwards became quite unsafe for the journey of the Polos, and they were advised to make a large circuit round the north and east frontiers of the dominions of Barha; and by which route they made their escape from the seat of war to Guthacam, a town on the Tygris[5]. A little farther on, they crossed the Gihon, one of the four rivers of Paradise, and travelled afterwards for seventeen days in the desert, in which they saw neither town, castle, nor village, and only a few Tartars dwelling in huts or tents. Leaving the desert, they came to a considerable city, named Bochara, on the frontiers of Persia, then the residence of a prince called Barach[6], who gave them a good reception; and being unable to proceed any farther, on account of the great wars which then raged among the Tartars, they remained there for three years.
[1] The Black-Sea, or Euxine, is here called the Great Sea. Soldadia, Soldaia, or Sudak, was a city in the Crimea, a little to the west of Caffa.--Forst.
[2] Barha or Barcha, more properly Bereke-khan, who reigned from 1256 to 1266.--E.
[3] Bolgara is the town of Bolgari, the capital of Bulgaria, which subsisted from 1161 to 1578. Alsara is Al-seray, which was built by Baatu-khan, on the Achtuba, a branch of the Volga.--Forst.
[4] Probably Holagu-khan, to whom all Persia was in subjection, quite to Syria.--Forst.
[5] Ukakah, Grikhata, Khorkang, or Urghenz on the Gihon.--Forst.
[6] Bereke-khan.--Forst.
At that time there came to Bochara a person of distinction, who was going as ambassador from Holagu to Kublai-khan, the great emperor of all the Tartars, who resided in the remotest countries of the earth, betwixt the north-east and the east. Meeting with the brothers, who had now become well versed in the Tartarian language, he was much taken with their conversation, and persuaded them to accompany him to the court of the great khan, knowing that he should gratify him in this circumstance, and promised them that they should be received with great honour, and gratified with large rewards. They were well aware that it was utterly impossible for them to return home at this period, without the most imminent danger, and agreed to this proposal, taking with them some Christian servants whom they had brought from Venice; and travelling toward the north-east, they employed a whole year on the journey, being often obliged to wait the melting of the snow, and the decreasing of the floods, which obstructed their passage.
At length they arrived at the residence of the great khan, and being brought into his presence, were most courteously received, and treated with great distinction. He interrogated them much concerning many things relative to the countries of the west; particularly respecting the Roman emperor[7], and the other kings and princes of Europe; the forms of their different governments, the nature, number and discipline of their military force; how peace, justice and concord were established and maintained among them; of the manners and customs of the different European nations; and concerning the pope, the discipline of the church, and the tenets of the Christian faith. To all this Nicolo and Maffei made proper and suitable replies, as prudent and wise men, declaring the truth, and speaking orderly in the Tartarian language; with which the emperor was well satisfied, as he acquired a knowledge of the affairs of the Europeans; insomuch that he often commanded them to be brought into his presence.
[7] This probably refers to the Constantinopolitan or Greek emperor; his dominions being called Roum in the east to the present day.--E.
After some time, Kublai-khan having consulted with his great lords, informed them, that he was desirous to send them as his ambassadors to the pope of the Romans, accompanied by one of his lords named Chogatal[8], requesting that he would send an hundred men, learned in the Christian religion, to his courts, that they might instruct his wise men, that the faith of the Christians was preferable to all other sects, being the only way of salvation; that the gods of the Tartars were devils, and that they and other people of the east were deceived in the worship of these gods. He likewise commanded them, on their return from Jerusalem, to bring him some of the oil from the lamp which burns before the sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom the emperor had great devotion, believing him to be the true God. Yielding due reverence to the great khan, they promised faithfully to execute the charge which he had committed to them, and to present to the pope the letters in the Tartarian language, which he gave them for that purpose. According to the custom of the empire, the great khan caused to be given them a golden tablet, engraven and signed with the mark or signet of the khan, in virtue of which, instead of a passport, the bearers were entitled to be everywhere conveyed in safety through dangerous places, by the governors of provinces and cities, throughout the whole empire, having their expences everywhere defrayed, and should be furnished with whatever was needful for them and their attendants in all places, and for as long as they might have occasion to stay.
[8] In different editions this name is corruptly written Gogoka, Gogatal, Cogatal, and Chogatal.--E.
Taking their leave of the great khan, they set out upon the journey into the west, carrying with them the letters to the pope, and the golden tablet. After travelling twenty days, the Tartar lord, who was associated in their embassy to the pope, fell grievously sick; on which, having consulted upon what was best to be done, they resolved to leave him, and to continue their journey, They were everywhere courteously received, through the authority of the imperial tablet; yet they were often compelled to wait, by the overflowing of the rivers, in the course of their journey, so that they spent three years before they reached the port in the country of the Armenians, called Giazza [9]. From thence they proceeded to Acre [10], where they arrived in the month of April 1269. On their arrival at Acre, they were informed of the death of Pope Clement IV., by Tibaldo Visconti of Placentia, the papal legate who then resided in that place. They related to him what had befallen them, and declared what commission they had received from the great khan to the pope, and he advised to wait the creation of a new pope, to whom they might deliver their letters. Upon this they took shipping for Venice, by the way of Negropont, intending to visit their friends and relations, and to remain there until a new pope should be elected. On their arrival, Nicolo found that his wife was dead, whom he had left pregnant at his departure; but that she had left a son, now nineteen [11] years of age, who is this very Marco, the author of this book, in which he will make manifest all those things which he has seen in his travels.
[9] Otherwise called Glaza and Galza, but more properly Al-Ajassa, on the south-east extremity of the Euxine or Black-sea.--Forst.
[10] Acon, or more properly Akko. It is not easy to conceive what should have taken them so much out of their way as Acre; unless they could not procure shipping at Giazza, and travelled therefore by land through Asia Minor and Syria; or that they intended here to procure the holy oil for the khan.--E.
[11] This is an error in transcription, and it has been already noticed in the introduction to these travels, that Marco could not then have exceeded the ninth year of his age.--E.
The election of the pope was deferred two years, and the Polos became afraid least the great khan might be displeased at their delay. They went therefore back to Acre, carrying Marco along with them; and having gone to Jerusalem for the holy oil requested by Kublai, they received letters from the legate, testifying their fidelity to the great khan, and that a pope was not yet chosen. They then set out on their journey, and went to Giazza, in Armenia. In the mean time letters came from the Cardinals to the legate Visconti, declaring that he was elected pope, and he assumed the name of Gregory. On this the new pope sent messengers to the Polos to call them back, or to delay their departure from Armenia until he might prepare other letters for them, to present to the khan in his name, and to inform them, that he meant to join two friars predicants in commission with them, Nicolo of Vicenza and Guelmo of Tripoli, men of learning and discretion. The Polos accordingly remained at Giazza, where these two monks arrived with letters and presents of great value for the khan, and furnished with ample powers and privileges, and authority to ordain priests and bishops, and to grant absolution in all cases, as fully as if the pope were present. But learning that the sultan of Babylon, Bentiochdas[12], was leading a great army to invade Armenia, and where he committed the most cruel ravages, the two friars became afraid of themselves, and delivered the letters and presents of the pope to Nicolo, Maffei, and Marco; and to avoid the fatigues of the ways and the dangers of war, they remained with the master of the temple, then at Giazza, and returned with him to Acre.
[12] Bibars el Bentochdari, sultan of Kahira or Cairo, in Egypt, often called Babylon.--Forst.
But the three Venetians proceeded boldly through many dangers and difficulties, and at length, after a journey of three years and a half, they arrived at the great city of Clemenisu[13]. In this lengthened journey they had often long stoppages, on account of the deep snow and extreme cold, and on occasion of floods and inundations. When the khan heard of their approach, though yet at a great distance, he sent messengers forty days journey to meet them, that they might be conducted with all honour, and to provide them with every accommodation during the remainder of their journey. On their arrival at the court, and being introduced into the presence, they prostrated themselves before the khan on their faces, according to the customary form of reverence; and being commanded to rise, were most graciously received. The khan then demanded an account of the many dangers through which they had passed by the way, and of their proceedings with the pope of the Romans. All this they distinctly related, and delivered to him the letters and presents from the pope, with which the khan was well pleased, and gave them great commendations for their care and fidelity. They presented to him also the oil which they had brought from the holy sepulchre of the Lord at Jerusalem, which he reverently received, and gave orders that it should be honourably preserved. The khan inquired who Marco was? On which Nicolo replied, "He is your majesty's servant, and my son." The khan graciously received him with a friendly countenance and had him taught to write among his honourable courtiers; whereupon he was much respected by all the court, and in a little time made himself familiar with the customs of the Tartars, and learned to read and write four different languages. After some time the great khan, to make experience of his capacity, sent Marco upon a mission or embassy, to a great city called Carachan or Zarazan, at such a distance as he could scarcely travel in six months. He executed the commission with which he had been entrusted with judgment and discretion, and perfectly to the satisfaction of the khan: And knowing that the khan would be delighted with an account of all the novelties in the places through which he had to pass, he diligently inquired into the manners and customs of the people, the conditions of the countries, and every thing worthy of being remarked, making a memorial of all he knew or saw, which he presented to the great khan for his information and amusement. By this means he got so much into the favour of the khan, that during the twenty-six years which he continued in his service, he was continually sent through all his realms and dependencies, chiefly on affairs of government, but sometimes on his own private matters, by the khan's orders; and this is the true reason that he should have seen and learnt so many particulars relating to the east, as he has declared in these his memoirs.
[13] Chambalu, or Khan-balu, or the city of the Khan, now Peking.--Forst.
After staying many years in the court of the great khan, and having become very rich in jewels of great value, and considering that if the khan, who was now grown very old, should happen to die, they should never be able to return home; the Venetians became exceedingly anxious to be permitted to return to their own country. Wherefore, one day that he found the khan in extraordinary good humour, Nicolo begged permission to return home with his family. At this the Khan was much displeased, and asked what could induce them to undertake so long and dangerous a journey; adding, that if they were in want of riches, he would gratify their utmost wishes, by bestowing upon them twice as much as they possessed; but out of pure affection, he refused to give them leave to depart.
It happened, however, not long after this, that a king of the Indies named Argon, sent three of his counsellors, named Ulatai, Apusca, and Coza, as ambassadors to Kublai-khan on the following occasion. Bolgana, the wife of Argon, was lately dead, and on her death-bed had requested of her husband that he should choose a wife from among her relations in Kathay. Kubla yielded to this request, and chose a fair young maiden of seventeen years of age, named Cogalin[14], who was of the family of the late queen Bolgana, and determined to send her to Argon. The ambassadors departed with their charge, and journeyed eight months the same way they had come to the court of Kublai; but found bloody wars raging among the Tartars, insomuch, that they were constrained to return and to acquaint the great khan with the impossibility of their proceeding home in that road. In the mean time, Marco had returned from the Indies, where he had been employed with certain ships in the service of the khan, to whom he had reported the singularities of the places which he had visited, and the facility of intercourse by sea between Kathay and the Indies. This came to the knowledge of the ambassadors, who conferred with the Venetians on the subject; and it was agreed, that the ambassadors and the young queen should go to the great khan, and beg permission to return by sea, and should request to have the three Europeans, who were skilful in sea affairs, to accompany and conduct them to the dominions of king Argon. The great khan was much dissatisfied with this proposal, yet, at the earnest entreaty of the ambassadors, he at length gave his consent; and calling Nicolo, Maffei, and Marco into his presence, after much demonstration of his favour and affection, he made them promise to return to him after they had spent some time in Christendom among their relations; and he caused a tablet of gold to be given them, on which his commands were engraven for their liberty, security, and free passage throughout all his dominions, and that all the expences of them and their attendants should be defrayed, providing them everywhere with guides and escorts, where necessary. He authorized them also to act as his ambassadors to the pope, and the kings of France and Spain, and all other Christian princes.