A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01 · Chapter 47Chapter XI. (10)
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[14] Besides the utter discrepancy of these names to those of any cities now in China, it appears obvious, that the direction of the itinerary in the text is erroneous or corrupted. We have been already on the ocean or bay of Nankin, the eastern boundary of China and of the land; yet the text persists continually to travel south-east, which is impossible. The direction of the itinerary must have been westwards, probably south-west.--E.
[15] This was probably Turmeric, so much used in the Eastern cookery, though it is the root which is employed.--E.
After six days journey is Quelinfu, a great city with three bridges, each of which is eight paces broad, and above an hundred paces long. The men are great merchants and manufacturers, and the women are fair and delicately shaped. The country produces plenty of ginger and galingal, and great abundance of silk and cotton. I was told, but saw them not, that they have hens without feathers, hairy like cats, which yet lay eggs, and are good to eat[16]. In this part of the country there are many lions, which make the ways very dangerous. After three days journey, we arrive in a populous country inhabited by idolaters, who make great quantities of silk stuffs. The chief city is Unguem, near which abundance of sugar is produced, and sent from thence to Cambalu. Before the reduction of this country by the great Khan, the inhabitants of this country could only manufacture a bad kind of sugar, by boiling down the juice of the cane into a black paste; but certain inhabitants from Babylonia, taught them refine it by means of the ashes of a certain tree[17]. Fifteen miles farther is the city of Cangiu, still in the province of Concha, and here the Khan has always an army in readiness for keeping the country under subjection. Through this city there runs a river of a mile broad, with handsome buildings on both sides, and the river is constantly covered with vessels carrying sugar and other goods. This river disembogues itself at the distance of five days journey south-east from Cangiu, into the sea at Zaitum all the country between being extremely pleasant, and abounding in trees and shrubs of camphor. Zaitum is a famous port, and much frequented by ships with rich cargoes from India, for the supply of Mangi and Kathay, and from this port the productions of these regions are dispersed all over India. At this port such quantities of pepper are imported, that what comes through Alexandria into our western world is not to be compared to it, being hardly an hundredth part. The concourse of merchants to this famous emporium is incredible, as it is one of the most commodious ports in the whole world, and is exceedingly productive in revenue to the great Khan, who receives ten in the hundred of all merchandize. The merchants pay likewise so high for freights, that not above a half of their cargoes remains to themselves for sale, and yet of that moiety they make immense profits. The inhabitants of Zaitum are idolaters, and much given to pleasure, and in it there are many artizans employed in embroidery and arras-work[18].
[16] Obviously what are now called Friesland, but more properly frizzled hens.--E.
[17] In the manufacture of sugar it is necessary to neutralize a certain redundant acid in the juice of the cane, by a fit proportion of some alkaline ingredient to enable the sugar to crystallize: The ordinary temper, as it is called, for this purpose, in the West Indies, is lime, but any alkali will produce nearly the same effect. This subject will be fully elucidated in that part of our work which is peculiarly appropriated to the sugar colonies in the West Indies,--E.
[18] There can hardly be a doubt that the Zaiturn of Marco is the modern Canton; yet from the causes already mentioned in several notes, it is next to an impossibility to trace the route or itinerary from Quinsai to this place.--E.
This river is large, wide, and swift, one arm of it reaching to Quinsai, and the other to Zaitum[19], and at the parting of these branches, the city of Tringui is situated, where porcelain dishes are made[20]. I was told of a certain earth which is cast up into conical heaps, and left exposed to the weather for thirty or forty years without stirring; after which, refined by time, it is made into dishes, which are painted and baked in furnaces; and so cheap is this manufacture, that eight of these dishes may be bought for one Venetian groat[21]. From this province of Concha, the great Khan derives nearly as great a revenue as he does from Quinsai. In these two provinces I travelled, but in none of die other provinces of Mangi; in all of which one language Is used, with considerable variety in dialect, and but one kind of writing.
[19] This is an obvious error, corruption, or interpolation; for on no conceivable hypothesis of the situations of Quinsai and Zaitum, can any river be found in China which answers to this description.--E.
[20] This is the only hint in Marco, of the peculiarly famous manufacture of China, from which all the best earthen ware of Europe has acquired this name as par excellence. From this circumstance, and from the fame of Nankin for this manufacture, I strongly suspect that this passage has been foisted in by some ignorant or careless editor in a wrong place.--E.
[21] It is singular that Marco should make no mention whatever of the peculiar beverage of the Chinese, tea, though particularly described both in name and use, by the Mahometan travellers in the ninth century, four hundred years earlier, as used in all the cities of China.--E.
SECTION XVII
Of the island of Zipangu, and of the unsuccessful attempts made by the Tartars for its Conquest.
I shall now leave the country of Mangi, and proceed to discourse of India the greater, the middle, and lesser; in which I have been, both in the service of the great khan, and also on our return home along with the queen, who was sent from Kathay to Argon. The ships which are built in the kingdom of Mangi are made of fir, having only one deck, on which are built twenty cabins, more or less, according to their size, each for one merchant. They have each a good rudder, and four masts, with four sails, which they raise or let down at pleasure, but some have only two masts. Some of the largest ships have thirteen divisions in the inside, made of boards let into each other, so that if, by the blow of a whale, or by touching on a rock, water should get into one of these divisions, it can go no farther, and the leak being found, is soon stopped. They are all built double, or have two courses of boards, one within the other, both of which are well caulked with oakum, and nailed with iron; but they are not pitched, as they have no pitch in Mangi, instead of which they are payed all over with the oil of a certain tree, mixed up with lime and chopped hemp which binds faster than pitch or lime. The largest of these ships have three hundred marines, others two hundred, or an hundred and fifty, according to their size; and they carry from five to six thousand bags of pepper. In ancient times they used to build larger ships than now; but owing to the great numbers of islands and shoals in some places of these seas, they now build them less[1]. Besides their sails, they use oars. occasionally to propel these ships, four men being employed to each oar. The larger ships are usually attended by two or three of a smaller size, able to carry a thousand bags of pepper, and having sixty mariners in each and these smaller ships are sometimes employed to tow the greater vessels. Each of the larger ships hare ten small boats for fishing and other services, which are fastened aloft on their sides, and let down when wanted for use. After having been employed for a year, these ships are sheathed all over, so that they then have three courses of boards: and they proceed in this manner till they sometimes hare six courses, alter which they are broken up.
[1] In this passage, in the edition of Harris, the sense seems obscurely to insinuate that this had been occasioned by the sea having broken down or overwhelmed certain lands or islands, producing numbers of smaller islands and extensive shoals.--E.
Zipangu[2] is a very large island on the east, and fifteen hundred miles distant from the shores of Mangi. The people of this island are of a white complexion and of gentle manners, and have a king of their own. They have gold in great plenty, as Jew merchants report thither, and no gold is allowed to be exported. Such as have traded to this island speak of the kings palace as being covered over with gold as our churches are with lead, and that the windows and floors are likewise of gold. It abounds in pearls, and is amazingly rich. Hearing of the vast opulence of this island, Kublai Khan sent two of his barons, Abasa and Vensaasin[3], with a fleet and a great army, to attempt the conquest. Sailing from Zaitum and Quinsai[4], they arrived safely on the island, but falling out between themselves, they were only able to take one city, all the garrison of which they beheaded, except eight persons, who could not be wounded with steel, because each had an enchanted stone inclosed between the skin and flesh of their right arms. These men were beaten to death with clubs, by order of the generals. Soon after this a violent north wind arose, which flew so hard as greatly to endanger the ships, some of which were lost, and others blown out to sea. On this, the whole army re-embarked, and sailed to an uninhabited island, at the distance of about ten miles: But the tempest continuing, many of the ships were wrecked, and about thirty thousand of the people escaped on shore, without arms or provisions; the two generals with a few of the principal persons, returning home. After this tempest ceased, the people of Zipangu sent over an army, in a fleet of ships, to seize the Tartars; but having landed without any order, the Tartars took the advantage of a rising ground in the middle of the island, under cover, of which, they wheeled suddenly round between the Zipanguers and the ships, which had been left unmanned, with ail their streamers displayed. In these ships, the Tartars sailed to a principal city of Zipangu, into which they were admitted without any suspicion, finding hardly any within its walls except women, the men being all absent on the expedition into the uninhabited island. The Zipanguers collected a new fleet and army to besiege the city, and the Tartars receiving no succour, were constrained to surrender, after a defence of six months, on terms by which their lives were spared. This happened in the year 1264[5]. For the bad conduct of the two commanders, the great khan ordered one to be beheaded, and sent the other to the desert island of Zerga, in which malefactors are punished, by sewing them up in the new flayed hide of a buffalo, which shrinks so much in drying, as to put them to exquisite torture, and brings them to a miserable death.
[2] Zipangu, Zipangri, or Cimpagu, is Japan without any doubt.--E.
[3] Named Abataa and Yonsaintin by Pinkerton, from the Trevigi edition. The latter Ven-san-sui, or Von-sain-cin, by his name seems to have been a Chinese.--E.
[4] Called Caicon, or Jaiton in the Trevigi edition. Caicon is not very far removed from the sound of Cangtong or Canton, which has already been considered to be the Zaitum of the text.--E.
[5] A.D. 1269, according to the Trevigi edition.--E.
The idols in Zipangu and the adjoining islands are strangely made, some having the head of a bull, others of a hog, or a dog, and in other most monstrous fashions. Some have heads with four faces, others three heads on one neck, while some have faces on their shoulders. Some have four arms, others ten, or even an hundred arms; and that idol is reputed the most powerful, and is held in greatest reverence, which has the greatest number. When asked the reason of making their idols in such distorted and ridiculous forms, they answer that such is the custom which has been handed down from their ancestors. It is reported of these islanders, that they eat such of their enemies as they take prisoners; esteeming human flesh a peculiar dainty. The sea in which Zipangu lies is called the sea of Chi or Chin, or the sea over against Mangi, which is called Chan or Chint, in the language of that island. This sea is so large, that mariners who have frequented it, say it contains seven thousand four hundred and forty islands, most of them inhabited; and that in ail those islands there is no tree which is not odoriferous, or does not bear fruit, or is not useful in some other respects. In them likewise there are great abundance of spices of various kinds, especially black arid white pepper, and lignum aloes[6]. The ships of Zaitum are a whole year on their voyage to and from Zipangu, going there during the winter, and returning again in summer, as there are two particular winds which regularly prevail in these seasons. Zipangu is far distant from India. But I will now leave Zipangu, because I never was there, as it is not subject to the khan, and shall now return to Zaitum and the voyage from thence to India.
[6] Marco obviously extends this sea and these islands to all those of the Chinese sea and the Indian ocean, from Sumatra in the SW. to Japan in the NE.--E.
SECTION XVIII.
Account of Various Countries, Provinces, Islands, and Cities in the Indies.
Sailing from Zaitum, 1500 miles to the south westwards, we pass a gulf called Cheinan[1], which extends two months sail to the northward, still confining on the south-east[2] of Mangi, and elsewhere, with Ania and Toloman, and other provinces mentioned formerly. Within it are infinite islands all in a manner inhabited [3], and in them is found abundance of gold, and they trade with each other. This gulf seems like another world; and after 1500 miles sailing, is the rich and great country of Ziambar[4]. The people are idolaters, and pay an yearly tribute to the great khan of twenty elephants, and great quantities of aloes wood. In the year 1268, hearing of the riches of this country, the khan sent one of his generals, named Segatu, to invade it, Acambute, who was then king of the country, was old, and chose to avoid the dangers and miseries of war, by agreeing to pay the before-mentioned tribute. In Ziambar there are many woods of black ebony, of great value.
[1] Probably the gulph of Siam.--E.
[2] South-west, certainly.--E.
[3] The inlands in the gulf of Siam are small, and not numerous; so that the passage is probably corrupted; and may have been in the original, "that, leaving the gulf of Cheinan on the north, they left infinite islands, &c; on the south." After all, the gulf of Cheinan may mean the whole sea of China.--E.
[4] It is difficult to say precisely what division of farther India is here meant by Ziambar. 1500 miles would carry us to the coast of Malaya; but 1500 li, or about 500 miles reach only to the coast of Cochin-China, or it may be Tsiompa. Ziambar, in the editions, is variously written Ciambau, Ciariban, and Ziambar.--E.
Sailing thence for 1500 miles, betwixt the south and southeast, we came to Java[5], which is considered by mariners to be the largest island in the world, being above 3000 miles in circumference. It is governed by a king who pays tribute to none; as, owing to the length and danger of the voyage, the great khan has made no attempt to annex it to his vast dominions. The merchants of Zaitum and Mangi, bring from thence abundance of gold and spices. South and south-westwards six hundred miles, are the islands of Sondur and Condur, both desolate, of which Sondur is the larger[6]. Fifty miles south-east from them is a rich and great province, or island, called Lochae[7]. The people are idolaters, and have both a king and language of their own. In it there grows great plenty of Brazil wood; and it has much gold, many elephants, wild beasts, and fowls, and an excellent fruit called bercias, as large as lemons. The country is mountainous and savage, and the king permits no person to come into his dominions, lest they should get acquainted with the county and attempt its conquest. It produces abundance of porcelain shells, which are transported to other places, where they serve as money.
[5] The direction of the voyage is here obviously erroneous, it must have been between the south and the south-west, or south-south-west. In the Trevigi edition, the Java of this part of our text is Lava, and according to Valentine, Lava is the name of the principal city and kingdom in Borneo; which at all events must be the island here mentioned by Marco.--E.
[6] According to the Trevigi edition, as reported by Pinkerton, these islands are only seven miles from Lava or Borneo. At about seventy miles distance to the south-west, there are two islands named Caremata and Soorooto, which may be those mentioned in the text.--E.
[7] Called Lochach in some of the editions, and said to be 200 miles from Sondor and Condur. Whether this may be Ma-lacca or Ma-laya, it is impossible to determine.--E.
Five hundred miles southward from Lochae, is the isle of Pentan[8], a savage place, which produces sweet trees in all its woods. For sixty miles of this voyage, between Lochae and Pentan, the sea in many places is only four fathoms deep Thirty miles to the south-east from Pentan, is the island and kingdom of Malaiur[9], which has a king and a peculiar language of its own, and has a great trade carried on in spices from Pentan. One hundred miles south-east is Java the less[10], which is about two thousand miles in circuit, and is divided into eight kingdoms, each having its own language. I was in six of these kingdoms, of which I shall give some account, omitting those I did not see.
[8] In the Trevigi edition only five miles, and the island is called Pentara. This may possibly be the island of Bintang in the south-eastern entrance of the straits of Malacca.--E.
[9] Most probably the kingdom of Malacca. From the Trevigi edition Pinkerton calls this Malonir, and curiously identifies Pepetam, Pentara, or Pentan, as the name of the city and kingdom of Malonir or Malaiur.--E.
One of these kingdoms is Felech or Ferlach, in which the formerly idolatrous inhabitants of the cities have been converted to the Mahometan religion, in consequence of much trade and intercourse with the Saracens; but the mountaineers are very savage, eating human flesh, and living upon every kind of unclean food, and they worship all day what they first happen to meet in the morning. The next kingdom is called Basma, which has a language peculiar to itself, the people living without law or religion like beasts: But they sometimes send hawks to the khan, who lays claim to the sovereignty of the whole island. Besides wild elephants, there are unicorns in this country, which are much less than elephants, being haired like the buffalo, but their feet are like those of die elephant. These animals have one horn in the middle of their foreheads; but they hurt no one with this weapon, using only their tongue and knee, for they trample and press any one down with their feet and knees, and their tongue is beset with long sharp prickles, with which they tear a person to pieces. The head is like that of a wild boar, which the animal, carries hanging down to the ground. They are filthy beasts that love to stand and wallow in the mire, and they do not in the least resemble those unicorns which are said to be found in some other parts of the world, which allow themselves to be taken by maids[11]. In this country, there are many apes of different kinds, some of them, being black with faces like men, which they put into boxes, preserved with spices; these they sell to merchants, who carry them to various parts of the world, and pass them for pigmies or little men. This country likewise produces large goshawks, as black as ravens, which are excellent for sport.
[10] If right in our former conjectures, the island spoken of in the text must be Sumatra not that now called Java. Indeed, the mention immediately afterwards of the islands of Nocueran and Angaman 150 miles to the north, which can only he the Nicobar and Andaman islands, establish the identity of Java-minor, here called Java the less, and Sumatra.--E.
[11] The animal here described under the name of unicorn is the Rhinoceros monoceros, or one-horned rhinoceros of naturalists; but the single horn is placed a little above the nose, not on the middle of the forehead, as here erroneously described by Marco.--E.
Samare or Samara is the next kingdom, in which I remained for five months against my will, in consequence of bad weather[12], during all which time, none of the stars in the constellation of the great-bear were seen. Being forced to remain here for five months. I landed with 2000 men, and erected fortifications to defend us against any unforeseen attack from the savage cannibals of the island, with whom we established a trade for provisions. They have excellent wine, both red and white, made from the palm tree, which is a very wholesome beverage, as it is medicinal for consumption, the dropsy, and for disorders of the spleen. They have likewise abundance of fine fish, and eat of all sorts of flesh, without making any difference. Their cocco nuts are as large as a mans head, and the middle of them is full of a pleasant liquor, better than wine.
[12] He had evidently missed the Monsoon, and had to await its return. From this kingdom or division of the island, it probably acquired the name of Sumatra, by which it is known in modern geography. From the circumstance in the text of not seeing the great bear, it is probable that Marco was stopped near the south-eastern extremity of the island. What is here translated the great bear, Pinkerton calls, from the Trevigi edition del Maistro. The polar star was invisible of course.--E.
Dragoian[13] is another of those kingdoms claimed by the khan, which has a king and a peculiar language. I was told of an abominable custom in this country; that when any one is sick, his relatives send to inquire at the sorcerers if he is to recover? If they answer no, the kindred then send for a person, whose office it is to strangle the sick person, whom they immediately cut in pieces and devour, even to the marrow of their bones, for they allege, that if any part were to remain, worms would breed in it, which would be in want of food, and would therefore die, to the great torture of the soul of the dead person. They afterwards carry away the bones, and conceal them carefully in caves in the mountains, that no beast may touch them. If they can lay their hands on any stranger, they treat him in the same barbarous manner.
[13] Called Deragola by Pinkerton, from the Trevigi edition.--E.
Lambri is the fifth kingdom of Java-minor, or Sumatra, in which is great plenty of Brazil wood, some of the seeds of which I brought to Venice, but they would not vegetate, as the climate was too cold for them. In this country there are great numbers of unicorns or rhinoceroses, and plenty of other beasts and birds. Fanfur is the sixth kingdom, having the best camphor, which Is sold weight for weight with gold. In that kingdom, they make a kind of meal from great and long trees, as thick as two men are able to fathom. Having taken off the thin bark, the wood within is only about three fingers thick, all the rest being pith, from which the meal is made. This pith is broken to pieces, and stirred among water, the light dross swimming, and being thrown away, while the finer parts settle at the bottom, and is made into paste[14]. I brought some of this to Venice, which tastes not much unlike barley bread. The wood of this tree is so heavy as to sink in water like iron, and of it they make excellent lances, but being very heavy, they are under the necessity of making them short. These are hardened in the fire, and sharpened, and when so prepared, they will pierce through armour easier than if made of iron. About 150 miles to the northward of Lambri, there are two islands, one called Nocueran and the other Angaman,[l5] in the former of which the inhabitants live like beasts, and go entirely naked, but have excellent trees, such as cloves, red and white sanders, coco-nuts, Brazil, and various spices in the other island the inhabitants are equally savage, and are said to have the heads and teeth of dogs.
[14] He here distinctly indicates the manufacture of sego.--E.
[15] Nicobar and Andaman, on the east side of the bay of Bengal; called Necunera and Namgama in the Trevigi edition.--E.
SECTION XIX.
Of the Island of Ceylon, and various parts of Hither India.
Sailing from Angaman 1000 miles west, and a little to the south, we come to the island of Zelan or Ceylon, which is 2400 miles in circumference; but was anciently 3600 miles round, as appears from the former charts of the country, the north winds having occasioned the sea to destroy a great part of it. This is the finest island in the world, and its king is called Sendernaz. The men and women are idolaters, and go entirely naked, except a small cloth before them. They grow no corn except rice; and they have plenty of oil of sesame, milk, flesh, palm wine, Brazil wood, the best rubies in the world, sapphires, topazes, amethysts, and other gems. The king of the island is said to have the finest ruby that ever was seen, as long as the hand, and as thick as a mans wrist, without spot or blemish, and glowing like a fire. Cublai-Khan once sent to purchase this ruby, offering the value of a city for it; but the king answered that he would not part with it for all the treasure in the world, because it had belonged to his ancestors. The men of this island are unfit for soldiers, and hire others when they have occasion to go to war.
There is a high mountain in Ceylon, to the top of which no one can ascend, without the assistance of iron chains, and on which the Saracens report that the sepulchre of Adam is situated; but the idolaters say that it is the body of Sogomon Burchan, the first founder of idol worship, son of a king of the island, who betook himself to a recluse life of religious contemplation on the top of this mountain, from whence no pleasures or persuasions could induce him to withdraw. After his death, his father caused an image of him to be made of solid gold, and commanded all his subjects to adore him as their god: and hence they say is the origin of idol worship. People come here in pilgrimage from remote regions, and there his fore-teeth, and a dish which he used, are solemnly exhibited as holy relics. As the Saracens pretend that these belonged to Adam, Cublai-Khan was induced, in 1281, to send ambassadors to the king of this country, who obtained the dish, two teeth, and some of the hairs of Sogomon Barchan: These the great khan caused to be received without the city with great reverence and solemnity, by the whole people of Cambalu, and brought into his presence with great honour.
Sixty miles to the west of Ceylon is Moabar[1]. This is no island, but lies on the firm continent, which may be called the greater India. In it there are four kings, the principal one of whom is Sinder Candi, in whose kingdom they fish for pearls, between Ceylon and Moabar, in a bay where the sea does not exceed ten or twelve fathoms deep. Here the divers descend to the bottom, and in bags or nets which are tied about their bodies, bring up the oysters which contain the pearls. On account of certain great fish which kill the divers, they hire bramins to charm them from doing harm, and these have the twentieth part of the pearls, the king getting the tenth part[2]; These oysters are only found from the beginning of April to the end of May in this place; but from the beginning of September to the middle of October, they are got in another place, about three hundred miles distant. The king of this country goes naked, like the rest of his subjects, except that he wears some honourable marks of distinction, as a collar of precious stones about his neck, and a thread of silk hanging down to his breast, on which are strung 104 large fine pearls, by which he counts his prayers as with a rosary. These prayers are merely the word Pacaupa, repeated 104 times over. He wears a sort of bracelets on three places of his arms and on his legs, and rings on all his fingers and toes. This king has a thousand concubines, and if any woman pleases his fancy, he takes her away from whoever she may happen to belong to. He once did this unjust deed to his own brother, in consequence of which a civil war had nearly ensued; but as their mother threatened to cut off her own breasts if they continued their enmity, they were reconciled. He has a numerous guard of horsemen, who are under a vow, when he dies, to throw themselves into the fire in which his body is consumed, that they may serve him in the next world.