The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 26

[1] See _Gaubil_, p. 93, note 4; _Biot_, p. 275 [and _Playfair's Dict._, p. 393].

CHAPTER LXXII.

CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIJU.

Caiju is a small city towards the south-east. The people are subject to the Great Kaan and have paper-money. It stands upon the river before mentioned.[NOTE 1] At this place are collected great quant.i.ties of corn and rice to be transported to the great city of Cambaluc for the use of the Kaan's Court; for the grain for the Court all comes from this part of the country. You must understand that the Emperor hath caused a water-communication to be made from this city to Cambaluc, in the shape of a wide and deep channel dug between stream and stream, between lake and lake, forming as it were a great river on which large vessels can ply. And thus there is a communication all the way from this city of Caiju to Cambaluc; so that great vessels with their loads can go the whole way. A land road also exists, for the earth dug from those channels has been thrown up so as to form an embanked road on either side.[NOTE 2]

Just opposite to the city of Caiju, in the middle of the River, there stands a rocky island on which there is an idol-monastery containing some 200 idolatrous friars, and a vast number of idols. And this Abbey holds supremacy over a number of other idol-monasteries, just like an archbishop's see among Christians.[NOTE 3]

Now we will leave this and cross the river, and I will tell you of a city called Chinghianfu.

NOTE 1.--No place in Polo's travels is better identified by his local indications than this. It is on the Kiang; it is at the extremity of the Great Ca.n.a.l from Cambaluc; it is opposite the Golden Island and Chin-kiang fu. Hence it is KWA-CHAU, as Murray pointed out. Marsden here misunderstands his text, and puts the place on the south side of the Kiang.

Here Van Braam notices that there pa.s.sed in the course of the day more than fifty great rice-boats, most of which could easily carry more than 300,000 lbs. of rice. And Mr. Alabaster, in 1868, speaks of the ca.n.a.l from Yang-chau to Kwa-chau as "full of junks."

[Sir J.F. Davis writes (_Sketches of China_, II. p. 6): "Two ... days ...

were occupied in exploring the half-deserted town of _Kwa-chow_, whose name signifies 'the island of gourds,' being completely insulated by the river and ca.n.a.l. We took a long walk along the top of the walls, which were as usual of great thickness, and afforded a broad level platform behind the parapet: the parapet itself, about six feet high, did not in thickness exceed the length of a brick and a half, and the embrasures were evidently not constructed for cannon, being much too high. A very considerable portion of the area within the walls consisted of burial-grounds planted with cypress; and this alone was a sufficient proof of the decayed condition of the place, as in modern or fully inhabited cities no person can be buried within the walls. Almost every spot bore traces of ruin, and there appeared to be but one good street in the whole town; this, however, was full of shops, and as busy as Chinese streets always are."--H.C.]

NOTE 2.--Rashiduddin gives the following account of the Grand Ca.n.a.l spoken of in this pa.s.sage. "The river of Khanbaligh had," he says, "in the course of time, become so shallow as not to admit the entrance of shipping, so that they had to discharge their cargoes and send them up to Khanbaligh on pack-cattle. And the Chinese engineers and men of science having reported that the vessels from the provinces of Cathay, from Machin, and from the cities of Khingsai and Zaitun, could no longer reach the court, the Kaan gave them orders to dig a great ca.n.a.l into which the waters of the said river, and of several others, should be introduced. This ca.n.a.l extends for a distance of 40 days' navigation from Khanbaligh to Khingsai and Zaitun, the ports frequented by the ships that come from India, and from the city of Machin (Canton). The ca.n.a.l is provided with many sluices ... and when vessels arrive at these sluices they are hoisted up by means of machinery, whatever be their size, and let down on the other side into the water. The ca.n.a.l has a width of more than 30 ells. Kublai caused the sides of the embankments to be revetted with stone, in order to prevent the earth giving way. Along the side of the ca.n.a.l runs the high road to Machin, extending for a s.p.a.ce of 40 days' journey, and this has been paved throughout, so that travellers and their animals may get along during the rainy season without sinking in the mud.... Shops, taverns, and villages line the road on both sides, so that dwelling succeeds dwelling without intermission throughout the whole s.p.a.ce of 40 days' journey." (_Cathay_, 259-260.)

The ca.n.a.l appears to have been [begun in 1289 and to have been completed in 1292.--H.C.] though large portions were in use earlier. Its chief object was to provide the capital with food. Pauthier gives the statistics of the transport of rice by this ca.n.a.l from 1283 to the end of Kublai's reign, and for some subsequent years up to 1329. In the latter year the quant.i.ty reached 3,522,163 _shi_ or 1,247,633 quarters. As the supplies of rice for the capital and for the troops in the Northern Provinces always continued to be drawn from Kiang-nan, the distress and derangement caused by the recent rebel occupation of that province must have been enormous.

(_Pauthier_, p. 481-482; _De Mailla_, p. 439.) Polo's account of the formation of the ca.n.a.l is exceedingly accurate. Compare that given by Mr.

Williamson (I. 62).

NOTE 3.--"On the Kiang, not far from the mouth, is that remarkably beautiful little island called the 'Golden Isle,' surmounted by numerous temples inhabited by the votaries of Buddha or Fo, and very correctly described so many centuries since by Marco Polo." (_Davis's Chinese_, I.

149.) The monastery, according to Pauthier, was founded in the 3rd or 4th century, but the name _Kin-Shan_, or "Golden Isle," dates only from a visit of the Emperor K'ang-hi in 1684.

The monastery contained one of the most famous Buddhist libraries in China. This was in the hands of our troops during the first China war, and, as it was intended to remove the books, there was no haste made in examining their contents. Meanwhile peace came, and the library was restored. It is a pity _now_ that the _jus belli_ had not been exercised promptly, for the whole establishment was destroyed by the T'ai-P'ings in 1860, and, with the exception of the PaG.o.da at the top of the hill, which was left in a dilapidated state, not one stone of the buildings remained upon another. The rock had also then ceased to be an island; and the site of what not many years before had been a channel with four fathoms of water separating it from the southern sh.o.r.e, was covered by flourishing cabbage-gardens. (_Gutzlaff_ in _J.R.A.S._ XII. 87; _Mid. Kingd._ I.

84, 86; _Oliphant's Narrative_, II. 301; _N. and Q. Ch. and j.a.p._ No. 5, p. 58.)

CHAPTER LXXIII.

OF THE CITY OF CHINGHIANFU.

Chinghianfu is a city of Manzi. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan, and have paper-money, and live by handicrafts and trade.

They have plenty of silk, from which they make sundry kinds of stuffs of silk and gold. There are great and wealthy merchants in the place; plenty of game is to be had, and of all kinds of victual.

[Ill.u.s.tration: West Gate of Chin-kiang fu in 1842.]

There are in this city two churches of Nestorian Christians which were established in the year of our Lord 1278; and I will tell you how that happened. You see, in the year just named, the Great Kaan sent a Baron of his whose name was MAR SARGHIS, a Nestorian Christian, to be governor of this city for three years. And during the three years that he abode there he caused these two Christian churches to be built, and since then there they are. But before his time there was no church, neither were there any Christians.[NOTE 1]

NOTE 1.--CHIN-KIANG FU retains its name unchanged. It is one which became well known in the war of 1842. On its capture on the 21st July in that year, the heroic Manchu commandant seated himself among his records and then set fire to the building, making it his funeral pyre. The city was totally destroyed in the T'ai-P'ing wars, but is rapidly recovering its position as a place of native commerce.

[Chen-kiang, "a name which may be translated 'River Guard,' stands at the point where the Grand Ca.n.a.l is brought to a junction with the waters of the Yang-tzu when the channel of the river proper begins to expand into an extensive tidal estuary." (_Treaty Ports of China_, p. 421.) It was declared open to foreign trade by the Treaty of Tien-Tsin 1858.--H.C.]

_Mar Sarghis_ (or Dominus Sergius) appears to have been a common name among Armenian and other Oriental Christians. As Pauthier mentions, this very name is one of the names of Nestorian priests inscribed in Syriac on the celebrated monument of Si-ngan fu.

[In the description of Chin-kiang quoted by the Archimandrite Palladius (see vol. i. p. 187, note 3), a Christian monastery or temple is mentioned: "The temple _Ta-hing-kuo-sze_ stands in Chin-kiang fu, in the quarter called _Kia-t'ao h'eang_. It was built in the 18th year of _Chi-yuen_ (A.D. 1281) by the _Sub-darugachi, Sie-li-ki-sze_ (Sergius).

_Liang Siang_, the teacher in the Confucian school, wrote a commemorative inscription for him." From this doc.u.ment we see that "_Sie-mi-sze-hien_ (Samarcand) is distant from China 100,000 li (probably a mistake for 10,000) to the north-west. It is a country where the religion of the _Ye-li-k'o-wen_ dominates.... The founder of the religion was called _Ma-rh Ye-li-ya_. He lived and worked miracles a thousand five hundred years ago.

_Ma Sie-li-ki-sze_ (Mar Sergius) is a follower of him." (_Chinese Recorder_, VI. p. 108).--H.C.]

From this second mention of _three years_ as a term of government, we may probably gather that this was the usual period for the tenure of such office. (_Mid. Kingd._, I. 86; _Cathay_, p. xciii.)

CHAPTER LXXIV.

OF THE CITY OF CHINGINJU AND THE SLAUGHTER OF CERTAIN ALANS THERE.

Leaving the city of Chinghianfu and travelling three days south-east through a constant succession of busy and thriving towns and villages, you arrive at the great and n.o.ble city of CHINGINJU. The people are Idolaters, use paper-money, and are subject to the Great Kaan. They live by trade and handicrafts, and they have plenty of silk. They have also abundance of game, and of all manner of victuals, for it is a most productive territory.[NOTE 1]

Now I must tell you of an evil deed that was done, once upon a time, by the people of this city, and how dearly they paid for it.

You see, at the time of the conquest of the great province of Manzi, when Bayan was in command, he sent a company of his troops, consisting of a people called Alans, who are Christians, to take this city.[NOTE 2] They took it accordingly, and when they had made their way in, they lighted upon some good wine. Of this they drank until they were all drunk, and then they lay down and slept like so many swine. So when night fell, the townspeople, seeing that they were all dead-drunk, fell upon them and slew them all; not a man escaped.

And when Bayan heard that the townspeople had thus treacherously slain his men, he sent another Admiral of his with a great force, and stormed the city, and put the whole of the inhabitants to the sword; not a man of them escaped death. And thus the whole population of that city was exterminated.[NOTE 3]

Now we will go on, and I will tell you of another city called Suju.

NOTE 1.--Both the position and the story which follows identify this city with CHANG-CHAU. The name is written in Pauthier's MSS. _Chinginguy_, in the G.T. _Cingiggui_ and _Cinghingui_, in Ramusio _Tinguigui_.

The capture of Chang-chau by Gordon's force, 11th May 1864, was the final achievement of that "Ever Victorious Army."

Regarding the territory here spoken of, once so rich and densely peopled, Mr. Medhurst says, in reference to the effects of the T'ai-P'ing insurrection: "I can conceive of no more melancholy sight than the acres of ground that one pa.s.ses through strewn with remains of once thriving cities, and the miles upon miles of rich land, once carefully parcelled out into fields and gardens, but now only growing coa.r.s.e gra.s.s and brambles--the home of the pheasant, the deer, and the wild pig."

(_Foreigner in Far Cathay_, p. 94.)

NOTE 2.--The relics of the Alans were settled on the northern skirts of the Caucasus, where they made a stout resistance to the Mongols, but eventually became subjects of the Khans of Sarai. The name by which they were usually known in Asia in the Middle Ages was _Aas_, and this name is a.s.signed to them by Carpini, Rubruquis, and Josafat Barbaro, as well as by Ibn Batuta. Mr. Howorth has lately denied the ident.i.ty of Alans and Aas; but he treats the question as all one with the ident.i.ty of Alans and Ossethi, which is another matter, as may be seen in Vivien de St. Martin's elaborate paper on the Alans (_N. Ann. des Voyages_, 1848, tom. 3, p. 129 seqq.). The Alans are mentioned by the Byzantine historian, Pachymeres, among nations whom the Mongols had a.s.similated to themselves and adopted into their military service. Gaubil, without being aware of the ident.i.ty of the _Asu_ (as the name _Aas_ appears to be expressed in the Chinese Annals), beyond the fact that they dwelt somewhere near the Caspian, observes that this people, after they were conquered, furnished many excellent officers to the Mongols; and he mentions also that when the Mongol army was first equipt for the conquest of Southern China, many officers took service therein from among the Uighurs, Persians, and Arabs, Kincha (people of Kipchak), the _Asu_ and other foreign nations. We find also, at a later period of the Mongol history (1336), letters reaching Pope Benedict XII. from several Christian Alans holding high office at the court of Cambaluc--one of them being a _Chingsang_ or Minister of the First Rank, and another a _Fanchang_ or Minister of the Second Order--in which they conveyed their urgent request for the nomination of an Archbishop in succession to the deceased John of Monte Corvino. John Marignolli speaks of those Alans as "the greatest and n.o.blest nation in the world, the fairest and bravest of men," and a.s.serts that in his day there were 30,000 of them in the Great Kaan's service, and all, at least nominally, Christians.[1] Rashiduddin also speaks of the Alans as Christians; though Ibn Batuta certainly mentions the _Aas_ as Mahomedans.

We find Alans about the same time (in 1306) fighting well in the service of the Byzantine Emperors (_Muntaner_, p. 449). All these circ.u.mstances render Marco's story of a corps of Christian Alans in the army of Bayan perfectly consistent with probability. (_Carpini_, p. 707; _Rub._, 243; _Ramusio_, II. 92; _I.B._ II. 428; _Gaubil_, 40, 147; _Cathay_, 314 seqq.)

[Mr. Rockhill writes (_Rubruck_, p. 88, note): "The Alans or Aas appear to be identical with the An-ts'ai or A-lan-na of the _Hou Han shu_ (bk. 88, 9), of whom we read that 'they led a pastoral life N.W. of Sogdiana (K'ang-chu) in a plain bounded by great lakes (or swamps), and in their wanderings went as far as the sh.o.r.es of the Northern Ocean.' (Ma Twan-lin, bk. 338.) _Pei-shih_ (bk. 97, 12) refers to them under the name of Su-te and Wen-na-sha (see also _Bretschneider, Med. Geog._, 258, et seq.).

Strabo refers to them under the name of Aorsi, living to the north but contiguous to the Albani, whom some authors confound with them, but whom later Armenian historians carefully distinguish from them (_De Morgan, Mission_, i. 232). Ptolemy speaks of this people as the 'Scythian Alans'

([Greek: Alanoi Skthai]); but the first definite mention of them in cla.s.sical authors is, according to Bunbury (ii. 486), found in Dionysius Periergetes (305), who speaks of the [Greek: alkaeentes Alanoi]. (See also _De Morgan_, i. 202, and _Deguignes_, ii. 279 et seq.)

"Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus (x.x.xi. 348) says, the Alans were a congeries of tribes living E. of the Tanais (Don), and stretching far into Asia.

'Distributed over two continents, all these nations, whose various names I refrain from mentioning, though separated by immense tracts of country in which they pa.s.s their vagabond existence, have with time been confounded under the generic appellation of Alans.' Ibn Alathir, at a later date, also refers to the Alans as 'formed of numerous nations.' (_Dulaurier_, xiv. 455).