The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 16

Indeed the mutual correspondence of these Annals, especially as to chronology, is very remarkable, and is an argument for greater respect to the chronological value of the Burmese Chronicle and other Indo-Chinese records of like character than we should otherwise be apt to entertain.

Compare the story of the expedition of 1300 as told after the Chinese Annals by De Mailla, and after the Burmese Chronicle by Burney and Phayre.

(See _De Mailla_, IX. 476 seqq.; and _J.A.S.B._ vol. vi. pp. 121-122, and vol. x.x.xvii. Pt. I. pp. 102 and 110.)

CHAPTER LIII.

OF THE GREAT DESCENT THAT LEADS TOWARDS THE KINGDOM OF MIEN.

After leaving the Province of which I have been speaking you come to a great Descent. In fact you ride for two days and a half continually down hill. On all this descent there is nothing worthy of mention except only that there is a large place there where occasionally a great market is held; for all the people of the country round come thither on fixed days, three times a week, and hold a market there. They exchange gold for silver; for they have gold in abundance; and they give one weight of fine gold for five weights of fine silver; so this induces merchants to come from various quarters bringing silver which they exchange for gold with these people; and in this way the merchants make great gain. As regards those people of the country who dispose of gold so cheaply, you must understand that n.o.body is acquainted with their places of abode, for they dwell in inaccessible positions, in sites so wild and strong that no one can get at them to meddle with them. Nor will they allow anybody to accompany them so as to gain a knowledge of their abodes.[NOTE 1]

After you have ridden those two days and a half down hill, you find yourself in a province towards the south which is pretty near to India, and this province is called AMIEN. You travel therein for fifteen days through a very unfrequented country, and through great woods abounding in elephants and unicorns and numbers of other wild beasts. There are no dwellings and no people, so we need say no more of this wild country, for in sooth there is nothing to tell. But I have a story to relate which you shall now hear[NOTE 2].

NOTE 1.--In all the Shan towns visited by Major Sladen on this frontier he found markets held _every fifth day_. This custom, he says, is borrowed from China, and is general throughout Western Yun-nan. There seem to be traces of this five-day week over Indo-China, and it is found in Java; as it is in Mexico. The Kakhyens attend in great crowds. They do _not_ now bring gold for sale to Momein, though it is found to some extent in their hills, more especially in the direction of Mogaung, whence it is exported towards a.s.sam.

Major Sladen saw a small quant.i.ty of nuggets in the possession of a Kakhyen who had brought them from a hill two days north of Bhamo. (_MS.

Notes by Major Sladen_.)

NOTE 2.--I confess that the indications in this and the beginning of the following chapter are, to me, full of difficulty. According to the general style of Polo's itinerary, the 2-1/2 days should be reckoned from Yung-ch'ang; the distance therefore to the capital city of Mien would be 17-1/2 days. The real capital of Mien or Burma at this time was, however, Pagan, in lat. 21 13', and that city could hardly have been reached by a land traveller in any such time. We shall see that something may be said in behalf of the supposition that the point reached was _Tagaung_ or _Old Pagan_, on the upper Irawadi, in lat. 23 28'; and there was perhaps some confusion in the traveller's mind between this and the great city. The descent might then be from Yung-ch'ang to the valley of the Shweli, and that valley then followed to the Irawadi. Taking as a scale Polo's 5 marches from Tali to Yung-ch'ang, I find we should by this route make just about 17 marches from Yung-ch'ang to Tagaung. We have no detailed knowledge of the route, but there is a road that way, and by no other does the plain country approach so near to Yung-ch'ang. (See _Anderson's Report on Expedition to Western Yunnan_, p. 160.)

Dr. Anderson's remarks on the present question do not in my opinion remove the difficulties. He supposes the long descent to be the descent into the plains of the Irawadi near Bhamo; and from that point the land journey to Great Pagan could, he conceives, "easily be accomplished in 15 days." I greatly doubt the latter a.s.sumption. By the scale I have just referred to it would take at least 20 days. And to calculate the 2-1/2 days with which the journey commences from an indefinite point seems scarcely admissible.

Polo is giving us a continuous _itinerary_; it would be ruptured if he left an indefinite distance between his last station and his "long descent." And if the same principle were applied to the 5 days between Carajan (or Tali) and Vochan (Yung-ch'ang), the result would be nonsense.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Temple of Gaudapalen (in the city of Mien), erected circa A.D. 1160.]

[_Mien-tien_, to which is devoted ch. vii. of the Chinese work _Sze-i-kwan-k'ao_, appears to have included much more than Burma proper.

(See the pa.s.sage supra, pp. 70-71, quoted by Deveria from the _Yuen-shi lei pien_ regarding _Kien-tou_ and _Kin-Chi_.)--H.C.]

The hypothesis that I have suggested would suit better with the traveller's representation of the country traversed as wild and uninhabited. In a journey to Great Pagan the most populous and fertile part of Burma would be pa.s.sed through.

[Baber writes (p. 180): "The generally received theory that 'the great descent which leads towards the Kingdom of Mien,' on which 'you ride for two days and a half continually downhill,' was the route from Yung-ch'ang to T'eng-Yueh, must be at once abandoned. Marco was, no doubt, speaking from hearsay, or rather, from a recollection of hearsay, as it does not appear that he possessed any notes; but there is good reason for supposing that he had personally visited Yung-ch'ang. Weary of the interminable mountain-paths, and enc.u.mbered with much baggage--for a magnate of Marco's court influence could never, in the East, have travelled without a considerable state--impeded, in addition, by a certain quant.i.ty of merchandise, for he was 'discreet and prudent in every way,' he would have listened longingly to the report of an easy ride of two and a half days downhill, and would never have forgotten it. That such a route exists I am well satisfied. Where is it? The stream which drains the Yung-ch'ang plain communicates with the Salwen by a river called the 'Nan-tien,' not to be confounded with the 'Nan-ting,' about 45 miles south of that city, a fair journey of two and a half days. Knowing, as we now do, that it must descend some 3500 feet in that distance, does it not seem reasonable to suppose that the valley of this rivulet is the route alluded to? The great battle on the Yung-ch'ang plain, moreover, was fought only a few years before Marco's visit, and seeing that the king and his host of elephants in all probability entered the valley from the south, travellers to Burma would naturally have quitted it by the same route.

"But again, our mediaeval Herodotus reports that 'the country is wild and hard of access, full of great woods and mountains which 'tis impossible to pa.s.s, the air is so impure and unwholesome; and any foreigners attempting it would die for certain.'

"This is exactly and literally the description given us of the district in which we crossed the Salwen.

"To insist on the theory of the descent by this route is to make the traveller ride downhill, 'over mountains it is impossible to pa.s.s.'

"The fifteen days' subsequent journey described by Marco need not present much difficulty. The distance from the junction of the Nan-tien with the Salwen to the capital of Burma (Pagan) would be something over 300 miles; fifteen days seems a fair estimate for the distance, seeing that a great part of the journey would doubtless be by boat."

Regarding this last paragraph, Captain Gill says (II. 345): "An objection may be raised that no such route as this is known to exist; but it must be remembered that the Burmese capital changes its position every now and then, and it is obvious that the trade routes would be directed to the capital, and would change with it. Altogether, with the knowledge at present available, this certainly seems the most satisfactory interpretation of the old traveller's story."--H.C.]

CHAPTER LIV.

CONCERNING THE CITY OF MIEN, AND THE TWO TOWERS THAT ARE THEREIN, ONE OF GOLD AND THE OTHER OF SILVER.

And when you have travelled those 15 days through such a difficult country as I have described, in which travellers have to carry provisions for the road because there are no inhabitants, then you arrive at the capital city of this Province of Mien, and it also is called AMIEN, and is a very great and n.o.ble city.[NOTE 1] The people are Idolaters and have a peculiar language, and are subject to the Great Kaan.

And in this city there is a thing so rich and rare that I must tell you about it. You see there was in former days a rich and puissant king in this city, and when he was about to die he commanded that by his tomb they should erect two towers [one at either end], one of gold and the other of silver, in such fashion as I shall tell you. The towers are built of fine stone; and then one of them has been covered with gold a good finger in thickness, so that the tower looks as if it were all of solid gold; and the other is covered with silver in like manner so that it seems to be all of solid silver. Each tower is a good ten paces in height and of breadth in proportion. The upper part of these towers is round, and girt all about with bells, the top of the gold tower with gilded bells and the silver tower with silvered bells, insomuch that whenever the wind blows among these bells they tinkle. [The tomb likewise was plated partly with gold, and partly with silver.] The King caused these towers to be erected to commemorate his magnificence and for the good of his soul; and really they do form one of the finest sights in the world; so exquisitely finished are they, so splendid and costly. And when they are lighted up by the sun they shine most brilliantly and are visible from a vast distance.

Now you must know that the Great Kaan conquered the country in this fashion.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CITY OF MIEN WITH THE GOLD AND SILVER TOWERS]

You see at the Court of the Great Kaan there was a great number of gleemen and jugglers; and he said to them one day that he wanted them to go and conquer the aforesaid province of Mien, and that he would give them a good Captain to lead them and other good aid. And they replied that they would be delighted. So the Emperor caused them to be fitted out with all that an army requires, and gave them a Captain and a body of men-at-arms to help them; and so they set out, and marched until they came to the country and province of Mien. And they did conquer the whole of it! And when they found in the city the two towers of gold and silver of which I have been telling you, they were greatly astonished, and sent word thereof to the Great Kaan, asking what he would have them do with the two towers, seeing what a great quant.i.ty of wealth there was upon them. And the Great Kaan, being well aware that the King had caused these towers to be made for the good of his soul, and to preserve his memory after his death, said that he would not have them injured, but would have them left precisely as they were. And that was no wonder either, for you must know that no Tartar in the world will ever, if he can help it, lay hand on anything appertaining to the dead.[NOTE 2]

They have in this province numbers of elephants and wild oxen;[NOTE 3]

also beautiful stags and deer and roe, and other kinds of large game in plenty.

Now having told you about the province of Mien, I will tell you about another province which is called Bangala, as you shall hear presently.

NOTE 1.--The name of the city appears as _Amien_ both in Pauthier's text here, and in the G. Text in the preceding chapter. In the Bern MS. it is _Aamien_. Perhaps some form like _Amien_ was that used by the Mongols and Persians. I fancy it may be traced in the _Arman_ or _Uman_ of Rashiduddin, probably corrupt readings (in _Elliot_ I. 72).

NOTE 2.--M. Pauthier's extracts are here again very valuable. We gather from them that the first Mongol communication with the King of Mien or Burma took place in 1271, when the Commandant of Tali-fu sent a deputation to that sovereign to demand an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Emperor. This was followed by various negotiations and acts of offence on both sides, which led to the campaign of 1277, already spoken of. For a few years no further events appear to be recorded, but in 1282, in consequence of a report from Nasruddin of the ease with which Mien could be conquered, an invasion was ordered under a Prince of the Blood called Siangtaur [called _Siam-ghu-talh_, by Visdelou.--H.C.]. This was probably _Singtur_, great-grandson of one of the brothers of Chinghiz, who a few years later took part in the insurrection of Nayan. (See _D'Ohsson_, II.

461.) The army started from Yun-nan fu, then called Chung-khing (and the _Yachi_ of Polo) in the autumn of 1283. We are told that the army made use of boats to descend the River _Oho_ to the fortified city of Kiangtheu (see supra, note 3, ch. lii.), which they took and sacked; and as the King still refused to submit, they then advanced to the "primitive capital," _Taikung_, which they captured. Here Pauthier's details stop.

(Pp. 405, 416; see also _D'Ohsson_, II. 444 [and _Visdelou_].)

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Palace of the King of Mien in modern times]

It is curious to compare these narratives with that from the Burmese Royal Annals given by Colonel Burney, and again by Sir A. Phayre in the _J.A.S.B._ (IV. 401, and x.x.xVII. Pt. I. p. 101.) Those annals afford no mention of transactions with the Mongols previous to 1281. In that year they relate that a mission of ten n.o.bles and 1000 horse came from the Emperor to demand gold and silver vessels as symbols of homage on the ground of an old precedent. The envoys conducted themselves disrespectfully (the tradition was that they refused to take off their boots, an old grievance at the Burmese court), and the King put them all to death. The Emperor of course was very wroth, and sent an army of 6,000,000 of horse and 20,000,000 of foot(!) to invade Burma. The Burmese generals had their _point d'appui_ at the city of _Nga tshaung gyan_, apparently somewhere near the mouth of the Bhamo River, and after a protracted resistance on that river, they were obliged to retire. They took up a new point of defence on the Hill of Male, which they had fortified. Here a decisive battle was fought, and the Burmese were entirely routed. The King, on hearing of their retreat from Bhamo, at first took measures for fortifying his capital Pagan, and destroyed 6000 temples of various sizes to furnish material. But after all he lost heart, and embarking with his treasure and establishments on the Irawadi, fled down that river to Ba.s.sein in the Delta. The Chinese continued the pursuit long past Pagan till they reached the place now called _Tarokmau_ or "Chinese Point," 30 miles below Prome.

Here they were forced by want of provisions to return. The Burmese Annals place the abandonment of Pagan by the King in 1284, a most satisfactory synchronism with the Chinese record. It is a notable point in Burmese history, for it marked the fall of an ancient Dynasty which was speedily followed by its extinction, and the abandonment of the capital. The King is known in the Burmese Annals as _Tarok-pye-Meng_, "The King who fled from the _Tarok_."[1]

In Dr. Mason's abstract of the Pegu Chronicle we find the notable statement with reference to this period that "the Emperor of China, having subjugated Pagan, his troops with the Burmese entered Pegu and invested several cities."

We see that the Chinese Annals, as quoted, mention only the "capitale primitive" _Taikung_, which I have little doubt Pauthier is right in identifying with _Tagaung_, traditionally the most ancient royal city of Burma, and the remains of which stand side by side with those of _Old_ Pagan, a later but still very ancient capital, on the east bank of the Irawadi, in about lat. 23 28'. The Chinese extracts give no idea of the temporary completeness of the conquest, nor do they mention Great Pagan (lat. 21 13'), a city whose vast remains I have endeavoured partially to describe.[2] Sir Arthur Phayre, from a careful perusal of the Burmese Chronicle, a.s.sures me that there can be no doubt that _this_ was at the time in question the Burmese Royal Residence, and the city alluded to in the Burmese narrative. M. Pauthier is mistaken in supposing that Tarok-Mau, the turning-point of the Chinese Invasion, lay north of this city: he has not unnaturally confounded it with Tarok-_Myo_ or "China-Town," a district not far below Ava. Moreover Male, the position of the decisive victory of the Chinese, is itself much to the south of Tagaung (about 22 55').

Both Pagan and Male are mentioned in a remarkable Chinese notice extracted in _Amyot's Memoires_ (XIV. 292): "Mien-Tien ... had five chief towns, of which the first was _Kiangtheu_ (supra, pp. 105, 111), the second _Taikung_, the third _Malai_, the fourth Ngan-cheng-kwe (? perhaps the _Nga-tshaung gyan_ of the Burmese Annals), the fifth PUKAN MIEN-w.a.n.g (Pagan of the Mien King?). The Yuen carried war into this country, particularly during the reign of Shun-Ti, the last Mongol Emperor [1333-1368], who, after subjugating it, erected at Pukan Mien-w.a.n.g a tribunal styled _Hwen-wei-she-se_, the authority of which extended over Pang-ya and all its dependencies." This is evidently founded on actual doc.u.ments, for Panya or Pengya, otherwise styled Vijayapura, was the capital of Burma during part of the 14th century, between the decay of Pagan and the building of Ava. But none of the translated extracts from the Burmese Chronicle afford corroboration. From Sangermano's abstract, however, we learn that the King of Panya from 1323 to 1343 was the _son of a daughter of the Emperor of China_ (p. 42). I may also refer to Pemberton's abstract of the Chronicle of the Shan State of Pong in the Upper Irawadi valley, which relates that about the middle of the 14th century the Chinese invaded Pong and took Maung Maorong, the capital.[3]

The Shan King and his son fled to the King of Burma for protection, but _the Burmese surrendered them_ and they were carried to China. (_Report on E. Frontier of Bengal_, p. 112.)

I see no sufficient evidence as to whether Marco himself visited the "city of Mien." I think it is quite clear that his account of the _conquest_ is from the merest hearsay, not to say gossip. Of the absurd story of the jugglers we find no suggestion in the Chinese extracts. We learn from them that Nasruddin had represented the conquest of Mien as a very easy task, and Kublai may have in jest asked his gleemen if they would undertake it.

The haziness of Polo's account of the conquest contrasts strongly with his graphic description of the rout of the elephants at Vochan. Of the latter he heard the particulars on the spot (I conceive) shortly after the event; whilst the conquest took place some years later than his mission to that frontier. His description of the gold and silver paG.o.das with their canopies of tinkling bells (the Burmese _Hti_), certainly looks like a sketch from the life;[4] and it is quite possible that some negotiations between 1277 and 1281 may have given him the opportunity of visiting Burma, though he may not have reached the capital. Indeed he would in that case surely have given a distincter account of so important a city, the aspect of which in its glory we have attempted to realize in the plate of "the city of Mien."

It is worthy of note that the unfortunate King then reigning in Pagan, had in 1274 finished a magnificent PaG.o.da called _Mengala-dzedi (Mangala Chaitya)_ respecting which ominous prophecies had been diffused. In this paG.o.da were deposited, besides holy relics, golden images of the Disciples of Buddha, golden models of the holy places, golden images of the King's fifty-one predecessors in Pagan, and of the King and his Family. It is easy to suspect a connection of this with Marco's story. "It is possible that the King's ashes may have been intended to be buried near those relics, though such is not now the custom; and Marco appears to have confounded the custom of depositing relics of Buddha and ancient holy men in paG.o.das with the _supposed_ custom of the burial of the dead. Still, even now, monuments are occasionally erected over the dead in Burma, although the practice is considered a vain folly. I have known a miniature paG.o.da with a _hti_ complete, erected over the ashes of a favourite disciple by a _P'hungyi_ or Buddhist monk." The latter practice is common in China. (_Notes by Sir A. Phayre; J.A.S.B._ IV. _u.s._, also V. 164, VI. 251; _Mason's Burmah_, 2nd ed. p. 26; _Milne's Life in China_, pp.

288, 450.)

NOTE 3.--The Gaur--_Bos Gaurus_, or _B. (Bibos) Cavifrons_ of Hodgson--exists in certain forests of the Burmese territory; and, in the south at least, a wild ox nearer the domestic species, _Bos Sondaicus_. Mr.

Gouger, in his book _The Prisoner in Burma_, describes the rare spectacle which he once enjoyed in the Tena.s.serim forests of a herd of wild cows at graze. He speaks of them as small and elegant, without hump, and of a light reddish dun colour (pp. 326-327).

[1] This is the name now applied in Burma to the Chinese. Sir A. Phayre supposes it to be _Turk_, in which case its use probably began at this time.