The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 27

"Conquered by the Huns in the latter part of the fourth century, some of the Alans moved westward, others settled on the northern slopes of the Caucasus; though long prior to that, in A.D. 51, they had, as allies of the Georgians, ravaged Armenia. (See _Yule, Cathay_, 316; _Deguignes_, I., pt. ii. 277 et seq.; and _De Morgan_, I. 217, et seq.)

"Mirkhond, in the _Tarikhi Wa.s.saf_, and other Mohammedan writers speak of the Alans _and_ As. However this may be, it is thought that the Oss or Ossetes of the Caucasus are their modern representatives (_Klaproth, Tabl.

hist._, 180; _De Morgan_, i. 202, 231.)" _Aas_ is the transcription of _A-soo_ (_Yuen-shi_, quoted by Deveria, _Notes d'epig._, p. 75). (See _Bretschneider, Med. Res._, II., p. 84.)--H.C.]

NOTE 3.--The Chinese histories do not mention the story of the Alans and their fate; but they tell how Chang-chau was first taken by the Mongols about April 1275, and two months later recovered by the Chinese; how Bayan, some months afterwards, attacked it in person, meeting with a desperate resistance; finally, how the place was stormed, and how Bayan ordered the whole of the inhabitants to be put to the sword. Gaubil remarks that some grievous provocation must have been given, as Bayan was far from cruel. Pauthier gives original extracts on the subject, which are interesting. They picture the humane and chivalrous Bayan on this occasion as demoniacal in cruelty, sweeping together all the inhabitants of the suburbs, forcing them to construct his works of attack, and then butchering the whole of them, boiling down their carca.s.ses, and using the fat to grease his mangonels! Perhaps there is some misunderstanding as to the _use_ of this barbarous lubricant. For Carpini relates that the Tartars, when they cast Greek fire into a town, shot with it human fat, for this caused the fire to rage inextinguishably.

Cruelties, like Bayan's on this occasion, if exceptional with him, were common enough among the Mongols generally. Chinghiz, at an early period in his career, after a victory, ordered seventy great caldrons to be heated, and his prisoners to be boiled therein. And the "evil deed" of the citizens of Chang-chau fell far short of Mongol atrocities. Thus Hulaku, suspecting the Turkoman chief Nasiruddin, who had just quitted his camp with 300 men, sent a body of horse after him to cut him off. The Mongol officers told the Turkoman they had been ordered to give him and his men a parting feast; they made them all drunk and then cut their throats. (_Gaubil_, 166, 167, 170; _Carpini_, 696; _Erdmann_, 262; _Quat. Rashid._ 357.)

[1] I must observe here that the learned Professor Bruun has raised doubts whether these Alans of Marignolli's could be Alans of the Caucasus, and if they were not rather _Ohlans_, i.e. Mongol Princes and n.o.bles. There are difficulties certainly about Marignolli's Alans; but obvious difficulties also in this explanation.

CHAPTER LXXV.

OF THE n.o.bLE CITY OF SUJU.

Suju is a very great and n.o.ble city. The people are Idolaters, subjects of the Great Kaan, and have paper-money. They possess silk in great quant.i.ties, from which they make gold brocade and other stuffs, and they live by their manufactures and trade.[NOTE 1]

The city is pa.s.sing great, and has a circuit of some 60 miles; it hath merchants of great wealth and an incalculable number of people. Indeed, if the men of this city and of the rest of Manzi had but the spirit of soldiers they would conquer the world; but they are no soldiers at all, only accomplished traders and most skilful craftsmen. There are also in this city many philosophers and leeches, diligent students of nature.

And you must know that in this city there are 6,000 bridges, all of stone, and so lofty that a galley, or even two galleys at once, could pa.s.s underneath one of them.[NOTE 2]

In the mountains belonging to this city, rhubarb and ginger grow in great abundance; insomuch that you may get some 40 pounds of excellent fresh ginger for a Venice groat.[NOTE 3] And the city has sixteen other great trading cities under its rule. The name of the city, Suju, signifies in our tongue, "Earth," and that of another near it, of which we shall speak presently, called Kinsay, signifies "Heaven;" and these names are given because of the great splendour of the two cities.[NOTE 4]

Now let us quit Suju, and go on to another which is called VUJU, one day's journey distant; it is a great and fine city, rife with trade and manufactures. But as there is nothing more to say of it we shall go on and I will tell you of another great and n.o.ble city called VUGHIN. The people are Idolaters, &c., and possess much silk and other merchandize, and they are expert traders and craftsmen. Let us now quit Vughin and tell you of another city called CHANGAN, a great and rich place. The people are Idolaters, &c., and they live by trade and manufactures. They make great quant.i.ties of sendal of different kinds, and they have much game in the neighbourhood. There is however nothing more to say about the place, so we shall now proceed.[NOTE 5]

NOTE 1.--SUJU is of course the celebrated city of SU-CHAU in Kiang-nan-- before the rebellion brought ruin on it, the Paris of China. "Everything remarkable was alleged to come from it; fine pictures, fine carved-work, fine silks, and fine ladies!" (_Fortune_, I. 186.) When the Emperor K'ang-hi visited Su-chau, the citizens laid the streets with carpets and silk stuffs, but the Emperor dismounted and made his train do the like.

(_Davis_, I. 186.)

[Su-chau is situated 80 miles west of Shang-hai, 12 miles east of the Great Lake, and 40 miles south of the Kiang, in the plain between this river and Hang-chau Bay. It was the capital of the old kingdom of Wu which was independent from the 12th to the 4th centuries (B.C.) inclusive; it was founded by Wu Tzu-su, prime minister of King Hoh Lu (514-496 B.C.), who removed the capital of Wu from Mei-li (near the modern Ch'ang-chau) to the new site now occupied by the city of Su-chau. "Suchau is built in the form of a rectangle, and is about three and a half miles from North to South, by two and a half in breadth, the wall being twelve or thirteen miles in length. There are six gates." (_Rev. H.C. Du Bose, Chin.

Rec._, xix. p. 205.) It has greatly recovered since the T'ai-P'ing rebellion, and its recapture by General (then Major) Gordon on the 27th November 1863; Su-chau has been declared open to foreign trade on the 26th September 1896, under the provisions of the j.a.panese Treaty of 1895.

"The great trade of Soochow is silk. In the silk stores are found about 100 varieties of satin, and 200 kinds of silks and gauzes.... The weavers are divided into two guilds, the Nankin and Suchau, and have together about 7000 looms. Thousands of men and women are engaged in reeling the thread." (_Rev. H.C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec._, xix. pp. 275-276.)--H.C.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CITY OF SUCHAU Reduced to 1/10 the scale from a Rubbing of a PLAN incised on MARBLE AD MCCXLVII, & preserved in the GREAT TEMPLE of CONFUCIUS at SUCHAU]

NOTE 2.--I believe we must not bring Marco to book for the literal accuracy of his statements as to the bridges; but all travellers have noticed the number and elegance of the bridges of cut stone in this part of China; see, for instance, _Van Braam_, II. 107, 119-120, 124, 126; and _Deguignes_ I. 47, who gives a particular account of the arches.

These are said to be often 50 or 60 feet in span.

["Within the city there are, generally speaking, six ca.n.a.ls from North to South, and six ca.n.a.ls from East to West, intersecting one another at from a quarter to half a mile. There are a hundred and fifty or two hundred bridges at intervals of two or three hundred yards; some of these with arches, others with stone slabs thrown across, many of which are twenty feet in length. The ca.n.a.ls are from ten to fifteen feet wide and faced with stone." (_Rev. H.C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec._, xix., 1888, p. 207).--H.C.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: South-West Gate and Water-Gate of Su-chau; facsimile on half the scale from a mediaeval Map, incised on Marble, A.D. 1247.]

NOTE 3.--This statement about the abundance of rhubarb in the hills near Su-chau is believed by the most competent authorities to be quite erroneous. Rhubarb _is_ exported from Shang-hai, but it is brought thither from Hankau on the Upper Kiang, and Hankau receives it from the further west. Indeed Mr. Hanbury, in a note on the subject, adds his disbelief also that _ginger_ is produced in Kiang-nan. And I see in the Shang-hai trade-returns of 1865, that there is _no_ ginger among the exports. [Green ginger is mentioned in the Shang-hai Trade Reports for 1900 among the exports (p. 309) to the amount of 18,756 piculs; none is mentioned at Su-chau.--H.C.]. Some one, I forget where, has suggested a confusion with Suh-chau in Kan-suh, the great rhubarb mart, which seems possible.

["Polo is correct in giving Tangut as the native country of Rhubarb (_Rheum palmatum_) but no species of Rheum has. .h.i.therto been gathered by our botanists as far south as Kiang-Su, indeed, not even in Shan-tung."

(_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._, I. p. 5.)--H.C.]

NOTE 4.--The meanings ascribed by Polo to the names of Su-chau and King-sze (Hang-chau) show plainly enough that he was ignorant of Chinese.

Odoric does not mention Su-chau, but he gives the same explanation of Kinsay as signifying the "City of Heaven," and Wa.s.saf also in his notice of the same city has an obscure pa.s.sage about Paradise and Heaven, which is not improbably a corrupted reference to the same interpretation.[1] I suspect therefore that it was a "Vulgar Error" of the foreign residents in China, probably arising out of a misunderstanding of the Chinese adage quoted by Duhalde and Davis:--

"_Shang yeu t'ien t'ang, Hia yeu_ SU HANG!"

"There's Paradise above 'tis true, But here below we've HANG and SU!"

These two neighbouring cities, in the middle of the beautiful tea and silk districts, and with all the advantages of inland navigation and foreign trade, combined every source of wealth and prosperity, and were often thus coupled together by the Chinese. Both are, I believe, now recovering from the effects of devastation by T'ai-P'ing occupation and Imperialist recapture; but neither probably is one-fifth of what it was.

The plan of Su-chau which we give is of high interest. It is reduced (1/10 the scale) from a rubbing of a plan of the city incised on marble measuring 6' 7" by 4' 4", and which has been preserved in the Confucian Temple in Su-chau since A.D. 1247. Marco Polo's eyes have probably rested on this fine work, comparable to the famous _Pianta Capitolina_. The engraving on page 183 represents one of the gates traced from the rubbing and reduced to _half_ the scale. It is therefore an authentic representation of Chinese fortification in or before the 13th century.[2]

["In the southern part of Su-chau is the park, surrounded by a high wall, which contains the group of buildings called the Confucian Temple. This is the Dragon's head;--the Dragon Street, running directly North, is his body, and the Great PaG.o.da is his tail. In front is a grove of cedars. To one side is the hall where thousands of scholars go to worship at the Spring and Autumn Festivals--this for the gentry alone, not for the unlettered populace. There is a building used for the slaughter of animals, another containing a map of the city engraved in stone; a third with tablets and astronomical diagrams, and a fourth containing the Provincial Library. On each side of the large courts are rooms where are placed the tablets of the 500 sages. The main temple is 50 by 70 feet, and contains the tablet of Confucius and a number of gilded boards with mottoes. It is a very imposing structure. On the stone dais in front, a mat-shed is erected for the great sacrifices at which the official magnates exercise their sacerdotal functions. As a tourist beheld the sacred grounds and the aged trees, she said: 'This is the most venerable-looking place I have seen in China.' On the gateway in front, the sage is called 'The Prince of Doctrine in times Past and Present.'" (_Rev.

H.C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec._, xix. p. 272).--H.C.]

NOTE 5.--The Geographic Text only, at least of the princ.i.p.al Texts, has distinctly the _three_ cities, _Vugui, Vughin, Ciangan_. Pauthier identifies the first and third with HU-CHAU FU and Sung-kiang fu. In favour of Vuju's being Hu-chau is the fact mentioned by Wilson that the latter city is locally called WUCHU.[3] If this be the place, the Traveller does not seem to be following a direct and consecutive route from Su-chau to Hang-chau. Nor is Hu-chau within a day's journey of Su-chau. Mr. Kingsmill observes that the only town at that distance is _Wukiang-hien_, once of some little importance but now much reduced.

WUKIANG, however, is suggestive of VUGHIN; and, in that supposition, Hu-chau must be considered the object of a digression from which the Traveller returns and takes up his route to Hang-chau via Wukiang.

_Kiahing_ would then best answer to _Ciangan_, or _Caingan_, as it is written in the following chapter of the G.T.

[1] See Quatremere's _Rashid._, p. lx.x.xvii., and Hammer's _Wa.s.saf_, p. 42.

[2] I owe these valuable ill.u.s.trations, as so much else, to the unwearied kindness of Mr. A. Wylie. There were originally four maps: (1) _The City_, (2) _The Empire_, (3) _The Heavens_, (4) no longer known. They were drawn originally by one Hwan Kin-shan, and presented by him to a high official in Sze-ch'wan. w.a.n.g Che-yuen, subsequently holding office in the same province, got possession of the maps, and had them incised at Su-chau in A.D. 1247. The inscription bearing these particulars is partially gone, and the date of the original drawings remains uncertain. (See _List of Ill.u.s.trations_.)

[3] _The Ever Victorious Army_, p. 395

CHAPTER LXXVI.

DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY, WHICH IS THE CAPITAL OF THE WHOLE COUNTRY OF MANZI.

When you have left the city of Changan and have travelled for three days through a splendid country, pa.s.sing a number of towns and villages, you arrive at the most n.o.ble city of Kinsay, a name which is as much as to say in our tongue "The City of Heaven," as I told you before.[NOTE 1]

And since we have got thither I will enter into particulars about its magnificence; and these are well worth the telling, for the city is beyond dispute the finest and the n.o.blest in the world. In this we shall speak according to the written statement which the Queen of this Realm sent to Bayan the conqueror of the country for transmission to the Great Kaan, in order that he might be aware of the surpa.s.sing grandeur of the city and might be moved to save it from destruction or injury. I will tell you all the truth as it was set down in that doc.u.ment. For truth it was, as the said Messer Marco Polo at a later date was able to witness with his own eyes. And now we shall rehea.r.s.e those particulars.

First and foremost, then, the doc.u.ment stated the city of Kinsay to be so great that it hath an hundred miles of compa.s.s. And there are in it twelve thousand bridges of stone, for the most part so lofty that a great fleet could pa.s.s beneath them. And let no man marvel that there are so many bridges, for you see the whole city stands as it were in the water and surrounded by water, so that a great many bridges are required to give free pa.s.sage about it. [And though the bridges be so high the approaches are so well contrived that carts and horses do cross them.[NOTE 2]]

The doc.u.ment aforesaid also went on to state that there were in this city twelve guilds of the different crafts, and that each guild had 12,000 houses in the occupation of its workmen. Each of these houses contains at least 12 men, whilst some contain 20 and some 40,--not that these are all masters, but inclusive of the journeymen who work under the masters. And yet all these craftsmen had full occupation, for many other cities of the kingdom are supplied from this city with what they require.

The doc.u.ment aforesaid also stated that the number and wealth of the merchants, and the amount of goods that pa.s.sed through their hands, was so enormous that no man could form a just estimate thereof. And I should have told you with regard to those masters of the different crafts who are at the head of such houses as I have mentioned, that neither they nor their wives ever touch a piece of work with their own hands, but live as nicely and delicately as if they were kings and queens. The wives indeed are most dainty and angelical creatures! Moreover it was an ordinance laid down by the King that every man should follow his father's business and no other, no matter if he possessed 100,000 bezants.[NOTE 3]

Inside the city there is a Lake which has a compa.s.s of some 30 miles: and all round it are erected beautiful palaces and mansions, of the richest and most exquisite structure that you can imagine, belonging to the n.o.bles of the city. There are also on its sh.o.r.es many abbeys and churches of the Idolaters. In the middle of the Lake are two Islands, on each of which stands a rich, beautiful and s.p.a.cious edifice, furnished in such style as to seem fit for the palace of an Emperor. And when any one of the citizens desired to hold a marriage feast, or to give any other entertainment, it used to be done at one of these palaces. And everything would be found there ready to order, such as silver plate, trenchers, and dishes [napkins and table-cloths], and whatever else was needful. The King made this provision for the gratification of his people, and the place was open to every one who desired to give an entertainment. [Sometimes there would be at these palaces an hundred different parties; some holding a banquet, others celebrating a wedding; and yet all would find good accommodation in the different apartments and pavilions, and that in so well ordered a manner that one party was never in the way of another.[NOTE 4]]

The houses of the city are provided with lofty towers of stone in which articles of value are stored for fear of fire; for most of the houses themselves are of timber, and fires are very frequent in the city.