A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01 · Chapter 48Chapter XI. (11)
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[1] This Pinkerton calls Moabar on the margin, and Nachabar in the text, of his dissertation on the Trevigi edition of Marco Polo, very justly observing that it refers to Coromandel, or the Carnatic below the gauts. Harris erroneously substitutes Malabar. Moabar and Madura may have a similar origin, as may Nachabar and Nega-patnam.--E.
[2] The fish here alluded to are sharks; and the same custom of employing bramins to defend the fishermen, by conjuration, against this formidable enemy, is continued to the present day.--E.
This prince, and the other kings of Moabar, buy their horses from Ormus and other parts, as their country produces none, or if any happen to be bred there, they are ugly and useless[3]. Condemned persons often offer themselves to die in honour of a particular idol; on which the devotee puts himself to death with twelve knives, giving himself twelve deep wounds in various parts of his body, calling out aloud on the infliction of each, that he does this in honour of such or such an idol; and the last of all is through his own heart, after which his body is burned by his kindred. The women of this country voluntarily burn themselves along with the bodies of their deceased husbands, and those who neglect to do this are held in disrepute. They worship idols, and most of them hold cows in such high veneration, that they would not eat their holy flesh for any consideration on earth. A certain tribe is called Gaui, who feed upon such oxen as die of themselves, but never kill any. These Gaui are descended from the people who slew St Thomas, and dare not enter the shrine in which his body is preserved. The people of this country sit on carpets on the ground, using no chairs or stools. Their only grain is rice. They are not a martial people, and kill no animals; but when they are inclined for animal food, they get the Saracens or some other people to kill for them. Both men and women wash themselves twice a-day, and always before eating; and those who neglect this ceremony are reputed heretics. They never touch their meat with their left hands, which they only employ for wiping themselves, or other unclean purposes. Each drinks from his own pot, neither do they allow it to touch their mouths, but hold it above, and pour in the drink; and to strangers who have no pot, they pour liquor into their hands, from which they must drink, as they will not allow their pots to be touched by any other person.
[3] Mr Pinkerton, from the Trevigi edition, has this passage as follows: "The king of Vor, one of the princes of Nacbabar, purchases about 10,000 horses yearly from the country of Cormos, formerly mentioned, each horse costing five sazi of gold."--E.
Justice is severely administered for crimes; and in some cases, a creditor has a singular manner of compelling payment, by drawing a circle round his debtor, out of which he must not stir till he has satisfied his creditor, or given security for the debt, under the pain of death. I, Marco, once saw the king on horseback thus encircled, by a merchant whom he had long put off with delays; and the king would not come out of the circle, which the merchant had drawn; till he had sent for the means of paying the merchant, all the people who were present highly applauding the kings justice. They are very scrupulous of drinking wine, and those who are addicted to that practice, are held disreputable and unworthy of being admitted as witnesses; which is the case likewise with those who go to sea, as they reckon them desperate persons. They look on letchery as no sin. In the months of June, July, and August, they have no rains, and it is excessively hot, insomuch, that they could not live if it were not for the refreshing winds which blow from the sea. They have many physiognomists and soothsayers, who observe omens from birds and beasts, and other signs. These people consider one hour in every day of the week as unlucky, which they name Choiach, and which is different on all the days, all of which are carefully recorded in their books, and they are curious observers of nativities. At thirteen years of age, their boys are put out to gain their living, who go about buying and selling, by means of a small stock given them to begin with. In the pearl season, these boys will buy a few pearls, and sell them again for a small profit to the merchants, who are unable to endure the sun. What gain they get they bring to their mothers, to lay out for them, as it is not lawful for them to live at their fathers cost. Their daughters are dedicated to the service of the idols, and appointed by the priests to sing and dance in presence of the idols; and they frequently set victuals before the idols for some time, as if they would eat, singing all the while, when they fall to eat themselves, and then return home. The great men have a kind of litters, made of large canes artificially wrought, which are fixed in some high situation, to avoid being bitten by tarantulas[4], and other vermin, and for the benefit of fresh air.
[4] Tarantulas is assuredly, a mistake here for centipedes and scorpions, which are common all over India.--E.
The sepulchre of St Thomas is in a small city, not much frequented by merchants, but very much by Christians and Saracens, on account of devotion. The Saracens hold him as a great prophet or holy man, and call him Ananias. The Christians take of a red earth which is found in the place where he was slain, which they mix with water, and administer to the sick with great reverence. It happened in the year 1288, that a great prince, who had more rice than he had room to keep it in, chose to make bold with that room in St Thomas's church in which pilgrims are received, and converted it into a granary: But he was so terrified by a vision of St Thomas in the night following, that he was glad to remove it with great speed. The inhabitants are black, although not born so, but by constantly anointing themselves with the oil of jasmine they become quite black, which they esteem a great beauty, insomuch, that they paint their idols black, and represent the devil as white. The cow worshippers carry with them to battle some of the hairs of an ox, as a preservative against dangers.
SECTION XX.
Of the Kingdom of Murfili, and the Diamond Mines, and some other Countries of India.
Murfili or Monsul[1], is five hundred miles northwards from Moabar, and is inhabited by idolaters. In the mountains of this country there are diamonds, which the people search for after the great rains. They afterwards ascend these mountains in the summer, though with great labour, on account of the excessive heat, and find abundance of these precious stones among the gravel; and are on these occasions much exposed to danger from the vast numbers of serpents which shelter themselves in the holes and caverns of the rocks, in which the diamonds are found in greatest abundance. Among other methods of obtaining the diamonds, they make, use of the following artifice: There are great numbers of white eagles, which rest in the upper parts of these rocks for the sake of feeding on the serpents, which are found at the bottom of the deep vallies and precipices where the men dare not go. They therefore throw pieces of raw meat down into these deep places, which the eagles seeing, stoop for, and seize with all the little stones and gravel which adhere to them. The people afterwards search the eagles nests when they leave them, and carefully pick out all the little stones they can find, and even carefully examine the eagles dung in quest of diamonds[2]. The kings and great men of the country keep all the largest and finest diamonds that are procured from these mines, and allow the merchants to sell the rest.
[1] Muis in the Trevigi edition, according to Pinkerton, and which, he says, is 10OO miles, instead of the 500 in the text. This certainly refers to Golconda. The districts of India have been continually changing their names with changes of dominion; and one or other of these names given by Marco to the diamond country, may at one time have been the designation of some town or district at the mines--E.
[2] One would suppose we were here reading a fragment of the adventures of Sinbad the sailor, from the Arabian Nights. But on this and a few other similar occasions in the narrative of Marco, it is always proper to notice carefully what he says on his own knowledge, and what he only gives on the report of others.--E.
Lac is westwards from the shrine of St Thomas, from whence the Bramins have their original, who are the honestest merchants in the world, and will not lie on any account. They faithfully keep any thing committed to their charge, or as brokers, they will sell or barter merchandize for others, with great fidelity. They are known by a cotton thread, which they wear over their shoulders, and tied under their arms across their breast. They have but one wife, are great astrologers, of great abstinence, and live to great ages. They constantly chew a certain herb, which keeps their teeth good and helps digestion. There are certain religious persons among them called Tangui, who live with great austerity, going altogether naked; their principal worship is addressed to cows, of which they wear a small brass image on their foreheads, and they make an ointment of ox bones, with which they anoint themselves very devoutly. They neither kill nor eat any living creature, and even abstain from green herbs, or fresh roots till dried, esteeming every thing that lives to have a soul. They use no dishes, but lay their victuals on dry leaves. They ease themselves in the sands, and they disperse it, lest it should breed worms, which might die for want of food. Some of these people are said to live to 150 years of age, and when they die their bodies are burned.
Cael is a great city governed by Aster, one of the four brethren[3], who is very rich and kind to merchants. He is said to have three hundred concubines. All the people this country are continually chewing a leaf called Tembul[4], with lime and spices. Coulam[5] is 500 miles south-west from Moabar, being chiefly inhabited by idolaters, who are very much addicted to venery, and marry their near kindred, and even their own sisters. It also contains Jews and Christians, who have a peculiar language. They have pepper, Brazil, indigo, black lions, parrots of many kinds, some white as snow, some azure, and others red, peacocks very different from ours, and much larger, and their fruits are very large. In this country there are many astrologers and physicians. In Camari, there are apes so large, that they seem like men, and here we again came in sight of the north star. Delai has a king, and its inhabitants have a peculiar language[6] and are idolaters. Ships from Mangi come here for trade.
[3] This obscure expression seems to imply, that Aster was one of the four kings in Moabar, or the Carnatic.--E.
[4] Now called Betel, and still universally used in India in the same manner.--E.
[5] Coulam may possibly be Cochin or Calicut, on the Malabar coast as being south-west from Moabar or Coromandel, and having Jews and Christians; as the original trade from the Red Sea to India was on this coast.--E.
[6] Camari or Comati, and Delai or Orbai, are obviously the names of towns and districts on the Malabar coast going north from Coulain. Yet Comari may refer to the country about Cape Comorin.--E.
Malabar is a kingdom in the west, in which, and in Guzerat[7], there are many pirates, who sometimes put to sea with an hundred sail of vessels, and rob merchants. In these expeditions they take their wives and children to sea along with them, where they remain all summer. In Guzerat there is great abundance of cotton, which grows on trees six fathoms high, that last for twenty years; but after twelve years old, the cotton of these trees is not good for spinning; and is only fit for making quilts.
[7] According to Pinkerton, these are called Melibar and Gesurach in the Trevigi edition, and he is disposed to consider the last as indicating Geriach, because of the pirates. But there seems no necessity for that nicety, as all the north-western coast of India has always been addicted to maritime plunder or piracy.--E.
Canhau is a great city, having plenty of frankincense, and carrying on a great trade in horses. In Cambaia is much indigo, buckram, and cotton. Semenath or Sebeleth, is a kingdom of idolaters, who are very good people, and greatly occupied in trade. Resmacoran is a great kingdom of idolaters and Saracens, and is the last province towards the north in the Greater India. Near this there are said to be two islands, one inhabited by men and the other by women; the men visiting their wives only during the months of March, April, and May, and then returning to their own island; and it is reported, that the air of that country, admits of no other procedure. The women keep their sons till twelve years old, and then send them to their fathers. These people are Christians, having a bishop, who is subject to the archbishop of Socotora; they are good fishermen, and have great store of amber. The archbishop of Socotora[8] is not subject to the Pope, but to a prelate called Zatulia, who resides at Bagdat. The people of Socotora are said to be great enchanters, though excommunicated for the practice by their prelate, and are reported to raise contrary winds to bring back the ships of those who have wronged them, that they may obtain satisfaction.
[8] Socotora is called Scorsia or Scoria in the Trevigi edition.--E.
SECTION XXI.
Of Madagascar, Ethiopia, Abyssinia, and several other Countries[1].
[1] This concluding section may be considered as a kind of appendix, in which Marco has placed several unconnected hearsay notices of countries where he never had been personally.--E.
A thousand miles south from Socotora is Magaster[2] or Madagascar, one of the largest and richest islands in the world[3], 3000 miles in circumference, which is inhabited by Saracens, and governed by four old men. The currents of the sea in those parts are of prodigious force. The people live by merchandize, and sell vast quantifies of elephants teeth [4]. Mariners report strange stories of a prodigiously large bird like an eagle, called Ruch, said to be found in this country.
[2] Mandeigascar in the Trevigi edition, and certainly meant for Madagascar.--E.
[3] Madagascar has no pretensions to riches or trade, and never had; so that Marco must have been imposed upon by some Saracen or Arab mariner. Its size, climate, and soil certainly fit it for becoming a place of vast riches and population; but it is one almost continued forest, inhabited by numerous independent and hostile tribes of barbarians. Of this island, a minute account will appear in an after part of this work.--E.
[4] There are no elephants in Madagascar, yet these teeth might have been procured from southern Africa.--E.
Zensibar or Zanguebar, is also said to be of great extent, and inhabited by a very deformed people; and the country abounds in elephants and antelopes, and a species of sheep very unlike to ours.
I have heard from mariners and skilful pilots, much versant in the Indian seas, and have seen in their writings, that these seas contain 12,700 islands, inhabited or desert.
In the Greater India, which is between Moabar or the Coromandel coast on the east, round to Chesmacoran on the north-west, there are thirteen kingdoms. India Minor is from Ziambo to Murfili[5], in which are eight kingdoms and many islands.
[5] By India Minor he obviously means what is usually called farther India, or India beyond the Ganges, from the frontiers of China to Moabar, or the north part of the Coromandel coast, including the islands.--E.
The second or Middle India is called Abascia[6], of which the chief king is a Christian, who has six other kings subject to his authority, three of whom are Christians and three of them Mahometans; there are also Jews in his dominions. St Thomas, after preaching in Nubia, came to Abascia, where he preached for some time, and then went to Moabar or Coromandel. The Abyssinians are valiant soldiers, always at war with the sultan of Aden and the people of Nubia. I was told, that in 1288, the great emperor of the Abyssinians was extremely desirous to have visited Jerusalem; but being dissuaded from the attempt, on account of the Saracen kingdoms which were in the way, he sent a pious bishop to perform his devotions for him at the holy sepulchre. On his return, the bishop was made prisoner by the sultan of Aden, and circumcised by force. On this affront, the Abyssinian monarch raised an army, with which he defeated the sultan and two other Saracen kings, and took and destroyed the city of Aden. Abyssinia is, rich in gold. Escier, subject to Aden, is forty miles distant to the south-east, and produces abundance of fine white frankincense, which is procured by making incisions in the bark of certain small trees, and is a valuable merchandize. Some of the people on that coast, from want of corn, use fish, which they have in great abundance, instead of bread, and also feed their beasts on fish. They are most abundantly taken in the months of March, April, and May.
[6] Abyssinia, here taken in the most extended sense, including all the western coast of the Red Sea, and Eastern Africa.--E.
I now return to some provinces more to the north, where many Tartars dwell, who have a king called Caidu, of the race of Zingis, but who is entirely independent. These Tartars, observant of the customs of their ancestors, dwell not in cities, castles, or fortresses, but continually roam about, along with their king, in the plains and forests, and are esteemed true Tartars. They have no corn of any kind, but have multitudes of horses, cattle, sheep, and other beasts, and live on flesh and milk, in great peace. In their country there are white bears of large size, twenty palms in length; very large wild asses, little beasts called rondes, from which we have the valuable fur called sables, and various other animals producing fine furs, which the Tartars are very skilful in taking. This country abounds in great lakes, which are frozen over, except for a few months in every year, and in summer it is hardly possible to travel, on account of marshes and waters; for which reason, the merchants who go to buy furs, and who have to travel for fourteen days through the desert, have wooden houses at the end of each days journey, where they barter with the inhabitants, and in winter they travel in sledges without wheels, quite flat at the bottom, and rising semicircularly at the top, and these are drawn by great dogs, yoked in couples, the sledgeman only with his merchant and furs, sitting within[7].
[7] This paragraph obviously alludes to the Tartar kingdom of Siberia.--E.
Beyond these Tartars is a country reaching to the extremest north, called the Obscure land, because the sun never appears during the greatest part of the winter months, and the air is perpetually thick and darkish, as is the case with us sometimes in hazy mornings. The inhabitants are pale and squat, and live like beasts, without law, religion, or king. The Tartars often rob them of their cattle during the dark months; and lest they might lose their way in these expeditions they ride on mares which have sucking foals, leaving these at the entrance of the country, under a guard; and when they have got possession of any booty, they give the reins to the mares, which make the best of their way to rejoin their foals. In their, long-continued summer[8], these northern people take many of the finest furs, some of which are carried into Russia, which is a great country near that northern land of darkness. The people in Russia have fair complexions, and are Greek Christians, paying tribute to the king of the Tartars in the west, on whom they border. In the eastern parts of Russia there is abundance of fine furs, wax, and mines of silver; and I am told the country reaches to the northern ocean, in which there are islands which abound in falcons and ger-falcons.
[8] The summer in this northern country of the Samojeds is extremely short; but the expression here used, must allude to the long-continued summer day, when, for several months, the sun never sets.--E.