History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0447/04475.txt

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$Title{Travels Of Marco Polo
Part III}
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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 III

Chapter XXVI

Concerning The City Of Shibrgan

     On leaving the castle, you ride over fine plains and beautiful valleys,
and pretty hillsides producing excellent grass pasture, and abundance of
fruits, and all other products.  Armies are glad to take up their quarters
here on account of the plenty that exists.  This kind of country extends for
six days' journey, with a goodly number of towns and villages, in which the
people are worshippers of Mahommet.  Sometimes also you meet with a tract of
desert extending for fifty or sixty miles, or somewhat less, and in these
deserts you find no water, but have to carry it along with you.  The beasts
do without drink until you have got across the desert tract and come to
watering places.

     So after traveling for six days as I have told you, you come to a city
called Shibrgan.  It has great plenty of everything, but especially of the
very best melons in the world.  They preserve them by paring them round and
round into strips, and drying them in the sun.  When dry they are sweeter
than honey, and are carried off for sale all over the country.  There is also
abundance of game here, both of birds and beasts.

Chapter XXVII

Of The City Of Balkh

     Balkh is a noble city and a great, though it was much greater in former
days.  But the Tartars and other nations have greatly ravaged and destroyed
it.  There were formerly many fine palaces and buildings of marble, and the
ruins of them still remain.  The people of the city tell that it was here
that Alexander took to wife the daughter of Darius.

     Here, you should be told, is the end of the empire of the Tartar lord of
the Levant.  And this city is also the limit of Persia in the direction
between east and northeast.

     Now, let us quit this city, and I will tell you of another country
called Dogana.

     When you have quitted the city of which I have been speaking, you ride
some twelve days between northeast and east, without finding any human
habitation, for the people have all taken refuge in fastnesses amount the
mountains, on account of the banditti and armies that harassed them.  There
is plenty of water on the road, and abundance of game; there are lions too.
You can get no provisions on the road, and must carry with you all that you
require for these twelve days.

Chapter XXVIII

Of Taican, And The Mountains Of Salt.  Also Of The Province Of Kishm.

     After those twelve days' journey you come to a fortified place called
Taican, where there is a great corn market.  It is a fine place, and the
mountains that you see towards the south are all composed of salt.  People
from all the countries round, to some thirty days' journey, come to fetch
this salt, which is the best in the world, and is so hard that it can only be
broken with iron picks.  'Tis in such abundance that it would supply the
whole world to the end of time.  Other mountains there grow almonds and
pistachioes, which are exceedingly cheap.

     When you leave this town and ride three days further between northeast
and east, you meet with many fine tracts full of vines and other fruits, and
with a goodly number of habitations, and everything to be had very cheap.
The people are worshippers of Mahommet, and are an evil and a murderous
generation, whose great delight is in the wine shop; for they have good wine,
albeit it be boiled, and are great topers; in truth, they are constantly
getting drunk.  They wear nothing on the head but a cord some ten palms long
twisted round it.  They are excellent huntsmen, and take a great deal of
game; in fact they wear nothing but the skins of the beasts they have taken
in the chase, for they make of them both coats and shoes.  Indeed, all of
them are acquainted with the art of dressing skins for these purposes.
     When you have ridden those three days, you find a town called Kishm,
which is subject to a count.  His other towns and villages are on the hills,
but through this town there flows a river of some size.  There are a great
many porcupines hereabout, and very large ones too.  When hunted with dogs,
several of them will get together and huddle close, shooting their quills at
the dogs, which get many a serious wound thereby.

     This town of Kishm is at the head of a very great province, which is
also called Kishm.  The people have a peculiar language.  The peasants who
keep cattle abide in the mountains, and have their dwellings in caves, which
form fine and spacious houses for them, and are made with ease, as the hills
are composed of earth.

     After leaving the town of Kishm, you ride for three days without finding
a single habitation, or anything to eat or drink, so that you have to carry
with you everything that you require.  At the end of those three days you
reach a province called Badakshan, about which we shall now tell you.

Chapter XXIX

Of The Province Of Badakshan

     Badakshan is a province inhabited by people who worship Mahommet, and
have a peculiar language.  It forms a very great kingdom, and the royalty is
hereditary.  All those of the royal blood are descended from King Alexander
and the daughter of King Darius, who was lord of the vast empire of Persia.
And all these kings call themselves in the Saracen tongue Zulkarnain, which
is as much as to say Alexander; and this out of regard for Alexander the
Great.

     It is in this province that those fine and valuable gems the Balas
rubies are found.  They are got in certain rocks among the mountains, and in
the search for them the people dig great caves underground, just as is done
by miners for silver.  There is but one special mountain that produces them,
and it is called Shignan.  The stones are dug on the king's account, and no
one else dares dig in that mountain on pain of forfeiture of life as well as
goods; nor may any one carry the stones out of the kingdom.  But the king
amasses them all, and sends them to other kings when he has tribute to
render, or when he desires to offer a friendly present; and such only as he
pleases he causes to be sold.  Thus he acts in order to keep the Balas at a
high value; for if he were to allow everybody to dig, they would extract so
many that the world would be glutted with them, and they would cease to bear
any value.  Hence it is that he allows so few to be taken out, and is so
strict in the matter.

     There is also in the same country another mountain, in which azure is
found; 'tis the finest in the world, and is got in a vein like silver. There
are also other mountains which contain a great amount of silver ore, so that
the country is a very rich one; but it is also, it must be said, a very cold
one.  It produces numbers of excellent horses, remarkable for their speed.
They are not shod at all, although constantly used in mountainous country,
and on very bad roads.  They go at a great pace even down steep descents,
where other horses neither would nor could do the like.  And Messer Marco was
told that not long ago they possessed in that province a breed of horses from
the strain of Alexander's horse Bucephalus, all of which had from their birth
a particular mark on the forehead.  This breed was entirely in the hands of
an uncle of the king's; and in consequence of his refusing to let the king
have any of them, the latter put him to death.  The widow then, in despite,
destroyed the whole breed, and it is now extinct.

     The mountains of this country also supply saker falcons of excellent
flight, and plenty of lanners likewise.  Beasts and birds for the chase there
are in great abundance.  Good wheat is grown, and also barley without husk.
They have no olive oil, but make oil from sesame, and also from walnuts.

     In the mountains there are vast numbers of sheep - four hundred, five
hundred, or six hundred in a single flock, and all of them wild; and though
many of them are taken, they never seem to get aught the scarcer.

     Those mountains are so lofty that 'tis a hard day's work, from morning
till evening, to get to the top of them.  On getting up, you find an
extensive plain, with great abundance of grass and trees, and copious springs
of pure water running down through rocks and ravines.  In those brooks are
found trout and many other fish of dainty kinds; and the air in those regions
is so pure, and residence there so healthful, that when the men who dwell
below in the towns, and in the valleys and plains, find themselves attacked
by any kind of fever or other ailment that may hap, they lose no time in
going to the hills; and after abiding there two or three days, they quite
recover their health through the excellence of that air.  And Messer Marco
said he had proved this by experience: for when in those parts he had been
ill for about a year, but as soon as he was advised to visit that mountain,
he did so and got well at once.

     In this kingdom there are many strait and perilous passes, so difficult
to force that the people have no fear of invasion.  Their towns and villages
also are on lofty hills, and in very strong positions.  They are excellent
archers, and much given to the chase; indeed, most of them are dependent for
clothing on the skins of beasts, for stuffs are very dear among them.  The
great ladies, however, are arrayed in stuffs, and I will tell you the style
of their dress!  They all wear drawers made of cotton cloth, and into the
making of these some will put sixty, eighty, or even one hundred ells of
stuff.  This they do to make themselves look large in the hips, for the men
of those parts think that to be a great beauty in a woman.

Chapter XXX

Of The Province Of Pashai

     You must know that ten days' journey to the south of Badakshan there is
a province called Pashai, the people of which have a peculiar language, and
are idolaters, of a brown complexion.  They are great adepts in sorceries and
the diabolic arts.  The men wear earrings and brooches of gold and silver set
with stones and pearls.  They are a pestilent people and a crafty; and they
live upon flesh and rice.  Their country is very hot.

     Now let us proceed and speak of another country which is seven days'
journey from this one towards the southeast, and the name of which is
Kashmir.

Chapter XXXI

Of The Province Of Kashmir

     Kashmir also is a province inhabited by a people who are idolaters and
have a language of their own.  They have an astonishing acquaintance with the
devilries of enchantment; insomuch that they make their idols to speak.  They
can also by their sorceries bring on changes of weather and produce darkness,
and do a number of things so extraordinary that no one without seeing them
would believe them.  Indeed, this country is the very original source from
which idolatry has spread abroad.

     In this direction you can proceed further till you come to the sea of
India.

     The men are brown and lean, but the women, taking them as brunettes, are
very beautiful.  The food of the people is flesh, and milk, and rice.  The
clime is finely tempered, being neither very hot nor very cold.  There are
numbers of towns and villages in the country, but also forests and desert
tracts, and strong passes, so that the people have no fear of anybody, and
keep their independence, with a king of their own to rule and do justice.

     There are in this country hermits after the fashion of those parts, who
dwell in seclusion and practice great abstinence in eating and drinking.
They observe strict chastity, and keep from all sins forbidden in their law,
so that they are regarded by their own folk as very holy persons.  They live
to a very great age.

     There are also a number of idolatrous abbeys and monasteries.  The
people of the province do not kill animals nor spill blood; so if they want
to eat meat they get the Saracens who dwell among them to play the butcher.
The coral which is carried from our parts of the world has a better sale
there than in any other country.

     Now we will quit this country, and not go any further in the same
direction; for if we did so we should enter India; and that I do not wish to
do at present.  For, on our return journey, I mean to tell you about India:
all in regular order.  Let us go back therefore to Badakshan, for we cannot
otherwise proceed on our journey.

Chapter XXXII

Of The Great River Of Badakshan

     In leaving Badakshan you ride twelve days between east and northeast,
ascending a river that runs through land belonging to a brother of the prince
of Badakshan, and containing a good many towns and villages and scattered
habitations.  The people are Mahommetans, and valiant in war.  At the end of
those twelve days you come to a province of no great size, extending indeed
no more than three days' journey in any direction, and this is called Wakhan.
The people worship Mahommet, and they have a peculiar language.  They are
gallant soldiers, and they have a chief whom they call Nono, which is as much
as to say Count, and they are liegemen to the prince of Badakshan.

     There are numbers of wild beasts of all sorts in this region.  And when
you leave this little country, and ride three days northeast, always among
mountains, you get to such a height that it is said to be the highest place
in the world!  And when you have got to this height you find a great lake
between two mountains, and out of it a fine river runs through a plain
clothed with the finest pastures in the world; insomuch that a lean beast
there will fatten to your heart's content in ten days.  There are great
numbers of all kinds of wild beasts; among others, wild sheep of great size,
whose horns are good six palms in length.  From these horns the shepherds
make great bowls to eat from, and they use the horns also to enclose folds
for their cattle at night.  Messer Marco was told also that the wolves were
numerous, and killed many of those wild sheep.  Hence quantities of their
horns and bones were found, and these were made into great heaps by the
wayside, in order to guide travelers when snow was on the ground.

     The plain is called Pamier, and you ride across it for twelve days
together, finding nothing but a desert without habitations or any green
thing, so that travelers are obliged to carry with them whatever they have
need of.  The region is so lofty and cold that you do not even see any birds
flying.  And I must notice also that because of this great cold, fire does
not burn so brightly, nor give out so much heat as usual, nor does it cook
food so effectually.

     Now, if we go on with our journeys towards the east-northeast, we travel
a good forty days, continually passing over mountains and hills, or through
valleys, and crossing many rivers and tracts of wilderness.  And in all this
way you find neither habitation of man, nor any green thing, but must carry
with you whatever you require.  The country is called Bolor.  The people
dwell high up in the mountains, and are savage idolaters, living only by the
chase, and clothing themselves in the skins of beasts.  They are in truth an
evil race.

Chapter XXXIII

Of The Kingdom Of Kashgar

     Kashgar is a region lying between northeast and east, and constituted a
kingdom in former days, but now it is subject to the great Khan.  The people
worship Mahommet.  There are a good number of towns and villages, but the
greatest and finest is Kashgar itself.  The inhabitants live by trade and
handicrafts; they have beautiful gardens and vineyards, and fine estates, and
grow a great deal of cotton.  From this country many merchants go forth about
the world on trading journeys.  The natives are a wretched, niggardly set of
people; they eat and drink in miserable fashion.  There are in the country
many Nestorian Christians, who have churches of their own.  The people of the
country have a peculiar language, and the territory extends for five days'
journey.

Chapter XXXIV

Of The Great City Of Samarkand

     Samarkand is a great and noble city towards the northwest, inhabited by
both Christians and Saracens, who are subject to the great Khan's nephew,
Kaidu by name; he is, however, at bitter enmity with the Khan.  I will tell
you of a great marvel that happened at this city.

     It is not a great while ago that Jagatai, own brother to the great Khan,
who was lord of this country and of many an one besides, became a Christian.
The Christians rejoiced greatly at this, and they built a great church in the
city, in honor of John the Baptist; and by his name the church was called.
And they took a very fine stone which belonged to the Saracens, and placed it
as the pedestal of a column in the middle of the church, supporting the roof.
It came to pass, however, that Jagatai died.  Now the Saracens were full of
rancor about that stone that had been theirs, and which had been set up in
the church of the Christians; and when they saw that the prince was dead,
they said one to another that now was the time to get back their stone, by
fair means or by foul.  And that they might well do, for they were ten times
as many as the Christians.  So they got together and went to the church and
said that the stone they must and would have.  The Christians acknowledged
that it was theirs indeed, but offered to pay a large sum of money and so be
quiet.  However, the others replied that they never would give up the stone
for anything in the world.  And words ran so high that the prince heard
thereof, and ordered the Christians either to arrange to satisfy the
Saracens, if it might be, with money, or to give up the stone.  And he
allowed them three days to do either one thing or the other.

     What shall I tell you?  Well, the Saracens would on no account agree to
leave the stone where it was, and this out of pure despite to the Christians,
for they knew well enough that if the stone were stirred the church would
come down by the run.  So the Christians were in great trouble and wist not
what to do.  But they did do the best thing possible; they besought Jesus
Christ that he would consider their case, so that the holy church should not
come to destruction, nor the name of its patron saint, John the Baptist, be
tarnished by its ruin.  And so when the day fixed by the prince came around,
they went to the church betimes in the morning, and lo, they found the stone
removed from under the column; the foot of the column was without support,
and yet it bore the load as stoutly as before!  Between the foot of the
column and the ground there was a space of three palms.  So the Saracens had
away their stone, and mighty little joy withal.  It was a glorious miracle,
nay, it is so, for the column still so standeth, and will stand as long as
God pleaseth.

     Now let us quit this and continue our journey.

Chapter XXXV

Of The Province Of Yarkand

     Yarkand is a province five days' journey in extent.  The people follow
the law of Mahommet, but there are also Nestorian and Jacobite Christians.
They are subject to the same prince that I mentioned, the great Khan's
nephew.  They have plenty of everything, particularly of cotton.  The
inhabitants are also great craftsmen, but a large proportion of them have
swollen legs, and great crops at the throat, which arises from some quality
in their drinking water.  As there is nothing else worth telling we may pass
on.

Chapter XXXVI

Of A Province Called Khotan

     Khotan is a province lying between northeast and east, and is eight
days' journey in length.  The people are subject to the great Khan, and are
all worshippers of Mahommet.  There are numerous towns and villages in the
country, but Khotan, the capital, is the most noble of all, and gives its
name to the kingdom.  Everything is to be had there in plenty, including
abundance of cotton, with flax, hemp, wheat, wine, and the like.  The people
have vineyards and gardens and estates.  They live by commerce and
manufactures, and are no soldiers.

Chapter XXXVII

Of The Province Of Pem

     Pem is a province five days in length, lying between east and northeast.
The people are worshippers of Mahommet, and subjects of the great Khan.
There are a good number of towns and villages, but the most noble is Pem, the
capital of the kingdom.  There are rivers in this country, in which
quantities of jasper and chalcedony are found.  The people have plenty of all
products, including cotton.  They live by manufactures and trade.  But they
have a custom that I must relate.  If the husband of any woman goes away upon
a journey and remains away for more than twenty days, as soon as that term is
past the woman may marry another man, and the husband also may then marry
whom he pleases.

     I should tell you that all the provinces that I have been speaking of,
from Kashgar forward, and those I am going to mention, as far as the city of
Lop, belong to great Turkey.

Chapter XXXVIII

Of The Province Of Cherchen

     Cherchen is a province of great Turkey, lying between northeast and
east.  The people worship Mahommet.  There are numerous towns and villages,
and the chief city of the kingdom bears its name, Cherchen.  The province
contains rivers which bring down jasper and chalcedony, and these are carried
for sale into Cathay, where they fetch great prices.  The whole of the
province is sandy, and so is the road all the way from Pem, and much of the
water that you find is bitter and bad.  However, at some places you do find
fresh and sweet water.  When an army passes through the land, the people
escape with their wives, children and cattle a distance of two or three days'
journey into the sandy waste; and knowing the spots where water is to be had,
they are able to live there, and to keep their cattle alive, while it is
impossible to discover them; for the wind immediately blows the sand over
their tracks.

     Quitting Cherchen, you ride some five days through the sands, finding
none but bad and bitter water, and then you come to a place where the water
is sweet.  And now I will tell you of a province called Lop, in which there
is a city, also called Lop, which you come to at the end of those five days.
It is at the entrance of the great desert, and it is here that travelers
repose before entering on the desert.

Chapter XXXIX

Of The City Of Lop And The Great Desert

     Lop is a large town at the edge of the desert, which is called the
Desert of Lop, and is situated between east and northeast.  It belongs to the
great Khan, and the people worship Mahommet.  Now, such persons as propose to
cross the desert take a week's rest in this town to refresh themselves and
their cattle; and then they make ready for the journey, taking with them a
month's supply for man and beast.  On quitting this city they enter the
desert.

     The length of this desert is so great that it is said it would take a
year and more to ride from one end of it to the other.  And here, where its
breadth is least, it takes a month to cross it.  It is all composed of hills
and valleys of sand, and not a thing to eat is to be found on it.  But after
riding for a day and a night you find fresh water, enough perhaps for some
fifty or one hundred persons with their beasts, but not for more.  And all
across the desert you will find water in like manner, that is to say, in some
twenty-eight places altogether you will find good water, but in no great
quantity; and in four places also you find brackish water.

     Beasts there are none; for there is nothing for them to eat.  But there
is a marvelous thing related of this desert, which is that when travelers are
on the move by night, and one of them chances to lag behind or to fall asleep
or the like, when he tries to gain his company again he will hear spirits
talking, and will suppose them to be his comrades.  Sometimes the spirits
will call him by name; and thus shall a traveler oftentimes be led astray so
that he never finds his party.  And in this way many have perished.
Sometimes the stray travelers will hear, as it were, the tramp and hum of a
great cavalcade of people away from the real line of road, and taking this to
be their own company they will follow the sound; and when day breaks they
find that a cheat has been put on them and that they are in an ill plight.
Even in the daytime one hears those spirits talking.  And sometimes you shall
hear the sound of a variety of musical instruments, and still more commonly
the sound of drums.  Hence in making this journey it is customary for
travelers to keep close together.  All the animals too have bells at their
necks, so that they cannot easily get astray.  And at sleeping time a signal
is put up to show the direction of the next march.

     So thus it is that the desert is crossed.

Chapter XL

Concerning The Great Province Of Tangut

     After you have traveled thirty days through the desert, as I have
described, you come to a city called Shai-chau, lying between northeast and
east; it belongs to the great Khan, and is in a province called Tangut.  The
people are for the most part idolaters, but there are also some Nestorian
Christians and some Saracens.  The idolaters have a peculiar language, and
are no traders, but live by their agriculture.  They have a great many abbeys
and minsters full of idols of sundry fashions, to which they pay great honor
and reverence, worshipping them and sacrificing to them with much ado.  For
example, such as have children will feed up a sheep in honor of the idol, and
at the New Year, or on the day of the idol's feast, they will take their
children and the sheep along with them into the presence of the idol with
great ceremony.  Then they will have the sheep slaughtered and cooked, and
again present it before the idol with like reverence, and leave it there
before him, while they are reciting the offices of their worship and their
prayers for the idol's blessing on their children.  And, if you will believe
them, the idol feeds on the meat that is set before it!  After these
ceremonies they take up the flesh and carry it home, and call together all
their kindred to eat it with them in great festivity, the idol priests
receiving for their portion the head, feet, entrails, and skin, with some
part of the meat.  After they have eaten, they collect the bones that are
left and store them carefully in a hutch.

     And you must know that all the idolaters in the world burn their dead.
And when they are going to carry a body to the burning, the kinsfolk build a
wooden house on the way to the spot, and drape it with cloths of silk and
gold.  When the body is going past this building they call a halt and set
before it wine and meat and other eatables; and this they do with the
assurance that the defunct will be received with the like attentions in the
other world.  All the minstrelsy in the town goes playing before the body;
and when it reaches the burning place the kinsfolk are prepared with figures
cut out of parchment and paper in the shape of men and horses and camels, and
also with round pieces of paper like gold coins, and all these they burn
along with the corpse.  For they say that in the other world the defunct will
be provided with slaves and cattle and money, just in proportion to the
amount of such pieces of paper that has been burnt along with him.

     But they never burn their dead until they have sent for the astrologers,
and told them the year, the day, and the hour of the deceased person's birth,
and when the astrologers have ascertained under what constellation, planet,
and sign he was born, they declare the day on which, by the rules of their
art, he ought to be burnt.  And till that day arrive they keep the body, so
that it is sometimes a matter of six months, more or less, before it comes to
be burnt.

     Now the way they keep the body in the house is this: They make a coffin
first of a good span in thickness, very carefully joined and daintily
painted.  This they fill up with camphor and spices, to keep off corruption,
stopping the joints with pitch and lime, and then they cover it with a fine
cloth.  Every day as long as the body is kept, they set a table before the
dead covered with food; and they will have it that the soul comes and eats
and drinks: wherefore they leave the food there as long as would be necessary
in order that one should partake.  Thus they do daily.  And worse still!
Sometimes those soothsayers shall tell them that it is not good luck to carry
out the corpse by the door, so they have to break a hole in the wall, and to
draw it out that way when it is taken to the burning.  And these, I assure
you, are the practices of all the idolaters of those countries.

     However, we will quit this subject, and I will tell you of another city
which lies towards the northwest at the extremity of the desert.

Chapter XLI

Of The Province Of Khamil

     Khamil is a province which in former days was a kingdom.  It contains
numerous towns and villages, but the chief city bears the name of Khamil.
The province lies between two deserts, for on the one side is the great
desert of Lop, and on the other side is a small desert of three days' journey
in extent.  The people are all idolaters, and have a peculiar language.  They
live by the fruits of the earth, which they have in plenty, and dispose of to
travelers.  They are a people who take things very easily, for they mind
nothing but playing and singing, and dancing and enjoying themselves.

     And it is the truth that if a foreigner comes to the house of one of
these people to lodge, the host is delighted, and desires his wife to put
herself entirely at the guest's disposal, while he himself gets out of the
way, and comes back no more until the stranger shall have taken his
departure.  The guest may stay and enjoy the wife's society as long as he
likes while the husband has no shame in the matter, but indeed considers it
an honor.  And all the men of this province are made wittols of by their
wives in this way.  The women themselves are fair and wanton.

     Now it came to pass during the reign of Mangu Khan, that as lord of this
province he came to hear of this custom, and he sent forth an order
commanding them under grievous penalties to do so no more but to provide
public hostelries for travelers.  And when they heard this order they were
much vexed thereat.  For about three years' space they carried it out.  But
then they found that their lands were no longer fruitful, and that many
mishaps befell them.  So they collected together and prepared a grand present
which they sent to their lord, praying him graciously to let them retain the
custom which they had inherited from their ancestors; for it was by reason of
this usage that their gods bestowed upon them all the good things that they
possessed, and without it they saw not how they could continue to exist.
When the prince had heard their petition his reply was "Since ye must needs
keep your shame, keep it then," and so he left them at liberty to maintain
their naughty custom.  And they always have kept it up, and do so still.

     Now let us quit Khamil, and I will tell you of another province which
lies between northwest and north, and belongs to the great Khan.