The Travels of Marco Polo Volume I Part 101

[1] There are thirteen months to the Chinese year in seven out of every nineteen.

["This interval of 10 years comprises 235 lunar months, generally 125 _long_ months of 30 days 110 _short_ months of 29 days, (but sometimes 124 _long_ and 111 _short_ months), and 7 _intercalary_ months. The year of twelve months is called a common year, that of thirteen months, an _intercalary_ year." (_P. Hoang, Chinese Calendar_, p. 12.

--H. C.)]

CHAPTER XV.

OF THE GREAT FESTIVAL WHICH THE KAAN HOLDS ON NEW YEAR'S DAY.

The beginning of their New Year is the month of February, and on that occasion the Great Kaan and all his subjects made such a Feast as I now shall describe.

It is the custom that on this occasion the Kaan and all his subjects should be clothed entirely in white; so, that day, everybody is in white, men and women, great and small. And this is done in order that they may thrive all through the year, for they deem that white clothing is lucky.[NOTE 1] On that day also all the people of all the provinces and governments and kingdoms and countries that own allegiance to the Kaan bring him great presents of gold and silver, and pearls and gems, and rich textures of divers kinds. And this they do that the Emperor throughout the year may have abundance of treasure and enjoyment without care. And the people also make presents to each other of white things, and embrace and kiss and make merry, and wish each other happiness and good luck for the coming year. On that day, I can a.s.sure you, among the customary presents there shall be offered to the Kaan from various quarters more than 100,000 white horses, beautiful animals, and richly caparisoned. [And you must know 'tis their custom in offering presents to the Great Kaan (at least when the province making the present is able to do so), to present nine times nine articles. For instance, if a province sends horses, it sends nine times nine or 81 horses; of gold, nine times nine pieces of gold, and so with stuffs or whatever else the present may consist of.][NOTE 2]

On that day also, the whole of the Kaan's elephants, amounting fully to 5000 in number, are exhibited, all covered with rich and gay housings of inlaid cloth representing beasts and birds, whilst each of them carries on his back two splendid coffers; all of these being filled with the Emperor's plate and other costly furniture required for the Court on the occasion of the White Feast.[NOTE 3] And these are followed by a vast number of camels which are likewise covered with rich housings and laden with things needful for the Feast. All these are paraded before the Emperor, and it makes the finest sight in the world.

Moreover, on the morning of the Feast, before the tables are set, all the Kings, and all the Dukes, Marquesses, Counts, Barons, Knights, and Astrologers, and Philosophers, and Leeches, and Falconers, and other officials of sundry kinds from all the places round about, present themselves in the Great Hall before the Emperor; whilst those who can find no room to enter stand outside in such a position that the Emperor can see them all well. And the whole company is marshalled in this wise. First are the Kaan's sons, and his nephews, and the other Princes of the Blood Imperial; next to them all Kings; then Dukes, and then all others in succession according to the degree of each. And when they are all seated, each in his proper place, then a great prelate rises and says with a loud voice: "Bow and adore!" And as soon as he has said this, the company bow down until their foreheads touch the earth in adoration towards the Emperor as if he were a G.o.d. And this adoration they repeat four times, and then go to a highly decorated altar, on which is a vermilion tablet with the name of the Grand Kaan inscribed thereon, and a beautiful censer of gold. So they incense the tablet and the altar with great reverence, and then return each man to his seat.[NOTE 4]

When all have performed this, then the presents are offered, of which I have spoken as being so rich and costly. And after all have been offered and been seen by the Emperor, the tables are set, and all take their places at them with perfect order as I have already told you. And after dinner the jugglers come in and amuse the Court as you have heard before; and when that is over, every man goes to his quarters.

NOTE 1.--The first month of the year is still called by the Mongols _Chaghan_ or _Chaghan Sara_, "the White" or the "White Month"; and the wearing of white clothing on this festive occasion must have been purely a Mongol custom. For when Shah Rukh's amba.s.sadors were present at the New Year's Feast at the Court of the succeeding _Chinese_ Dynasty (2nd February, 1421) they were warned that _no one_ must wear white, as that among the Chinese was the colour of mourning. (_Koeppen_, I. 574, II. 309; _Cathay_, p. ccvii.)

NOTE 2.--On the mystic importance attached to the number 9 on all such occasions among the Mongols, see _Hammer's Golden Horde_, p. 208; _Hayton_, ch. iii. in Ramusio II.; _Not. et Ext._ XIV. Pt. I. 32; and _Strahlenberg_ (II. 210 of Amsterd. ed. 1757). Vambery, speaking of the _Kalin_ or marriage price among the Uzbegs, says: "The question is always how many times _nine_ sheep, cows, camels, or horses, or how many times nine ducats (as is the custom in a town), the father is to receive for giving up his daughter." (_Sketches of Cent. Asia_, p. 103.) Sheikh Ibrahim of Darband, making offerings to Timur, presented _nines_ of everything else, but of slaves _eight_ only. "Where is the ninth?"

enquired the court official. "Who but I myself?" said the Sheikh, and so won the heart of Timur. (_A. Arabsiadis ... Timuri Hist._ p. 357.)

NOTE 3.--The elephant stud of the Son of Heaven had dwindled till in 1862 Dr. Rennie found but one animal; now none remain. [Dr. S. W. Williams writes (_Middle Kingdom_, I. pp. 323-324): "Elephants are kept at Peking for show, and are used to draw the state chariot when the Emperor goes to worship at the Altars of Heaven and Earth, but the sixty animals seen in the days of Kienlung, by Bell, have since dwindled to one or two. Van Braam met six going into Peking, sent thither from Yun-Nan." These were no doubt carrying tribute from Burmah.--H. C.] It is worth noticing that the housings of cut cloth or _applique_ work ("_draps entaillez_") are still in fashion in India for the caparison of elephants.

NOTE 4.--In 1263 Kublai adopted the Chinese fashion of worshipping the tablets of his own ancestors, and probably at the same time the adoration of his own tablet by his subjects was introduced. Van Braam ingenuously relates how he and the rest of the Dutch Legation of 1794 performed the adoration of the Emperor's Tablet on first entering China, much in the way described in the text.

There is a remarkable amplification in the last paragraph of the chapter as given by Ramusio: "When all are in their proper places, a certain great personage, or high prelate as it were, gets up and says with a loud voice: 'Bow yourselves and adore!' On this immediately all bend and bow the forehead to the ground. Then the prelate says again: 'G.o.d save and keep our Lord the Emperor, with length of years and with mirth and happiness.'

And all answer: 'So may it be!' And then again the prelate says: 'May G.o.d increase and augment his Empire and its prosperity more and more, and keep all his subjects in peace and goodwill, and may all things go well throughout his Dominion!' And all again respond: 'So may it be!' And this adoration is repeated four times."

One of Pauthier's most interesting notes is a long extract from the official Directory of Ceremonial under the Mongol Dynasty, which admirably ill.u.s.trates the chapters we have last read. I borrow a pa.s.sage regarding this adoration: "The Musician's Song having ceased, the Ministers shall recite with a loud voice the following Prayer: 'Great Heaven, that extendest over all! Earth which art under the guidance of Heaven! We invoke You and beseech You to heap blessings upon the Emperor and the Empress! Grant that they may live ten thousand, a hundred thousand years!'

"Then the first Chamberlain shall respond: 'May it be as the prayer hath said!' The Ministers shall then prostrate themselves, and when they rise return to their places, and take a cup or two of wine."

The K'o-tow (_Kheu-theu_) which appears repeatedly in this ceremonial and which in our text is indicated by the four prostrations, was, Pauthier alleges, not properly a Chinese form, but only introduced by the Mongols.

Baber indeed speaks of it as the _Kornish_, a Moghul ceremony, in which originally "the person who performed it kneeled nine times and touched the earth with his brow each time." He describes it as performed very elaborately (nine times _twice_) by his younger uncle in visiting the elder. But in its essentials the ceremony must have been of old date at the Chinese Court; for the Annals of the Thang Dynasty, in a pa.s.sage cited by M. Pauthier himself,[1] mention that amba.s.sadors from the famous Harun ar Rashid in 798 had to perform the "ceremony of kneeling and striking the forehead against the ground." And M. Pauthier can scarcely be right in saying that the practice was disused by the Ming Dynasty and only reintroduced by the Manchus; for in the story of Shah Rukh's emba.s.sy the performance of the K'o-tow occurs repeatedly.

["It is interesting to note," writes Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 22), "that in A.D. 981 the Chinese Envoy, w.a.n.g Yen-te, sent to the Uigur Prince of Kao-chang, refused to make genuflexions (_pai_) to him, as being contrary to the established usages as regards envoys. The prince and his family, however, on receiving the envoy, all faced eastward (towards Peking) and made an obeisance (_pai_) on receiving the imperial presents (_shou-tzu_)." (_Ma Twan-lin_, Bk 336, 13.)--H. C.]

(_Gaubil_, 142; _Van Braam_, I. 20-21; _Baber_, 106; _N. et E._ XIV. Pt.

I. 405, 407, 418.)

The enumeration of _four_ prostrations in the text is, I fancy, quite correct. There are several indications that this number was used instead of the three times three of later days. Thus Carpini, when introduced to the Great Kaan, "bent the left knee four times." And in the Chinese bridal ceremony of "Worshipping the Tablets," the genuflexion is made four times.

At the court of Shah Abbas an obeisance evidently identical was repeated four times. (_Carp._ 759; _Doolittle_, p. 60; _P. Della Valle_, I. 646.)

[1] _Gaubil_, cited in _Pauthier's Hist. des Relations Politiques de la Chine_, etc., p. 226.

CHAPTER XVI.

CONCERNING THE TWELVE THOUSAND BARONS WHO RECEIVE ROBES OF CLOTH OF GOLD FROM THE EMPEROR ON THE GREAT FESTIVALS, THIRTEEN CHANGES A-PIECE.

Now you must know that the Great Kaan hath set apart 12,000 of his men who are distinguished by the name of _Keshican_, as I have told you before; and on each of these 12,000 Barons he bestows thirteen changes of raiment, which are all different from one another: I mean that in one set the 12,000 are all of one colour; the next 12,000 of another colour, and so on; so that they are of thirteen different colours. These robes are garnished with gems and pearls and other precious things in a very rich and costly manner.[NOTE 1] And along with each of these changes of raiment, i.e. 13 times in the year, he bestows on each of those 12,000 Barons a fine golden girdle of great richness and value, and likewise a pair of boots of _Camut_, that is to say of _Borgal_, curiously wrought with silver thread; insomuch that when they are clothed in these dresses every man of them looks like a king![NOTE 2] And there is an established order as to which dress is to be worn at each of those thirteen feasts.

The Emperor himself also has his thirteen suits corresponding to those of his Barons; in _colour_, I mean (though his are grander, richer, and costlier), so that he is always arrayed in the same colour as his Barons, who are, as it were, his comrades. And you may see that all this costs an amount which it is scarcely possible to calculate.

Now I have told you of the thirteen changes of raiment received from the Prince by those 12,000 Barons, amounting in all to 156,000 suits of so great cost and value, to say nothing of the girdles and the boots which are also worth a great sum of money. All this the Great Lord hath ordered, that he may attach the more of grandeur and dignity to his festivals.

And now I must mention another thing that I had forgotten, but which you will be astonished to learn from this Book. You must know that on the Feast Day a great Lion is led to the Emperor's presence, and as soon as it sees him it lies down before him with every sign of the greatest veneration, as if it acknowledged him for its lord; and it remains there lying before him, and entirely unchained. Truly this must seem a strange story to those who have not seen the thing![NOTE 3]

NOTE 1.--On the _Keshican_, see note 1 to chap. xii., and on the changes of raiment note 3 to chap. xiv., and the remarks there as to the number of distributions. I confess that the stress laid upon the number 13 in this chapter makes the supposition of error more difficult. But there is something odd and unintelligible about the whole of the chapter except the last paragraph. For the 12,000 _Keshican_ are here all elevated to _Barons_; and at the same time the statement about their changes of raiment seems to be merely that already made in chapter xiv. This repet.i.tion occurs only in the French MSS., but as it is in all these we cannot reject it.

NOTE 2.--The words _Camut_ and _Borgal_ appear both to be used here for what we call _Russia-Leather_. The latter word in one form or another, _Bolghar, Borghali_, or _Bulkal_, is the term applied to that material to this day nearly all over Asia. Ibn Batuta says that in travelling during winter from Constantinople to the Wolga he had to put on three pairs of boots, one of wool (which we should call stockings), a second of wadded linen, and a third of _Borghali_, "i.e. of horse-leather lined with wolf-skin." Horse-leather seems to be still the favourite material for boots among all the Tartar nations. The name was undoubtedly taken from _Bolghar_ on the Wolga, the people of which are traditionally said to have invented the art of preparing skins in that manner. This manufacture is still one of the staple trades of Kazan, the city which in position and importance is the nearest representative of Bolghar now.

_Camut_ is explained by Klaproth to be "leather made from the back-skin of a camel." It appears in Johnson's Persian Dictionary as _Kamu_, but I do not know from what language it originally comes. The word is in the Latin column of the Petrarchian Vocabulary with the Persian rendering _Sagri_.

This shows us what is meant, for _Saghri_ is just our word _s.h.a.green_, and is applied to a fine leather granulated in that way, which is much used for boots and the like by the people of Central Asia. [In Turkish _saghri_ or _saghri_ is the name both for the b.u.t.tocks of a horse and the leather called _s.h.a.green_ prepared with them. (See _Devic, Dict. etym._)--H. C.]

In the commercial lists of our Indian north-west frontier we find as synonymous _Saghri_ or _Kimukht_, "Horse or a.s.s-hide." No doubt this latter word is a form of _Kamu_ or _Camut_. It appears (as _Keimukht_, "a sort of leather") in a detail of imports to Aden given by _Ibn al Wardi_, a geographer of the 13th century.

Instead of Camut, Ramusio has _Camoscia_, i.e. Chamois, and the same seems to be in all the editions based on Fra Pipino's version. It may be a misrendering of _camutum_ or _camutium_; or is there any real connexion between the Oriental _Kamu Kimukht_, and the Italian _camoscia_? (_I. B._ II. 445; _Klapr. Mem._ vol. III.; _Davies's Trade Report_, App. p. ccxx.; _Vambery's Travels_, 423; _Not. et Ext._ II. 43.)

Fraehn (writing in 1832) observes that he knew no use of the word _Bolghar_, in the sense of Russian leather, older than the 17th century.

But we see that both Marco and Ibn Batuta use it. (_F. on the Wolga Bulghars_, pp. 8-9.)

Pauthier in a note (p. 285) gives a list of the garments issued to certain officials on these ceremonial occasions under the Mongols, and sure enough this list includes "pairs of boots in red leather." Odoric particularly mentions the broad golden girdles worn at the Kaan's court.

[La Curne, _Dict._, has _Bulga_, leather bag; old Gallic word from which are derived _bouge_ et _bougete, bourse_; he adds in a note, "Festus writes: '_Bulgas_ galli sacculos scorteos vocant.'"--H. C.]

NOTE 3.--"Then come mummers leading lions, which they cause to salute the Lord with reverence." (_Odoric_, p. 143.) A lion sent by Mirza Baisangar, one of the Princes of Timur's House, accompanied Shah Rukh's emba.s.sy as a present to the Emperor; and like presents were frequently repeated.

(See _Amyot_, XIV. 37, 38.)

CHAPTER XVII.

HOW THE GREAT KAAN ENJOINETH HIS PEOPLE TO SUPPLY HIM WITH GAME.

The three months of December, January, and February, during which the Emperor resides at his Capital City, are a.s.signed for hunting and fowling, to the extent of some 40 days' journey round the city; and it is ordained that the larger game taken be sent to the Court. To be more particular: of all the larger beasts of the chase, such as boars, roebucks, bucks, stags, lions, bears, etc., the greater part of what is taken has to be sent, and feathered game likewise. The animals are gutted and despatched to the Court on carts. This is done by all the people within 20 or 30 days'

journey, and the quant.i.ty so despatched is immense. Those at a greater distance cannot send the game, but they have to send the skins after tanning them, and these are employed in the making of equipments for the Emperor's army.[NOTE 1]