The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 29

[Dr. F. Hirth writes (_Jour. Roy. As. Soc._, 1896, pp. 68-69): "For centuries Canton must have been the only channel through which foreign trade was permitted; for it is not before the year 999 that we read of the appointment of Inspectors of Trade at Hang-chou and Ming-chou. The latter name is identified with Ning-po." Dr. Hirth adds in a note: "This is in my opinion the princ.i.p.al reason why the port of _Khanfu_, mentioned by the earliest Muhammadan travellers, or authors (Soleiman, Abu Zeid, and Macoudi), cannot be identified with Hang-chou. The report of Soleiman, who first speaks of _Khanfu_, was written in 851, and in those days Canton was apparently the only port open to foreign trade. Marco Polo's _Ganfu_ is a different port altogether, viz. _Kan-fu_, or _Kan-pu_, near Hang-chou, and should not be confounded with _Khanfu_."--H.C.]

The changes of the Great Kiang do not seem to have attracted so much attention among the Chinese as those of the dangerous Hw.a.n.g-Ho, nor does their history seem to have been so carefully recorded. But a paper of great interest on the subject was published by Mr. Edkins, in the _Journal of the North China Branch of the R.A.S._ for September 1860 [pp. 77-84], which I know only by an abstract given by the late Comte d'Escayrac de Lauture. From this it would seem that about the time of our era the Yang-tzu Kiang had three great mouths. The most southerly of these was the Che-Kiang, which is said to have given its name to the Province still so called, of which Hang-chau is the capital. This branch quitted the present channel at Chi-chau, pa.s.sed by Ning-Kwe and Kw.a.n.g-te, communicating with the southern end of a great group of lakes which occupied the position of the T'ai-Hu, and so by Shih-men and T'ang-si into the sea not far from Shao-hing. The second branch quitted the main channel at Wu-hu, pa.s.sed by I-hing (or I-shin) communicating with the northern end of the T'ai-Hu (pa.s.sed apparently by Su-chau), and then bifurcated, one arm entering the sea at Wu-sung, and the other at Kanp'u. The third, or northerly branch is that which forms the present channel of the Great Kiang. These branches are represented hypothetically on the sketch-map attached to ch. lxiv. supra.

(_Kingsmill_, u.s. p. 53; _Chin. Repos._ III. 118; _Middle Kingdom_, I.

95-106; _Burck._ p. 483; _Cathay_, p. cxciii.; _J.N.Ch.Br.R.A.S._, December 1865, p. 3 seqq.; _Escayrac de Lauture, Mem. sur la Chine, H.

du Sol_, p. 114.)

NOTE 10.--Pauthier's text has: "_Chascun Roy fait chascun an le compte de son royaume aux comptes du grant siege_," where I suspect the last word is again a mistake for _sing_ or _scieng_. (See supra, Bk. II. ch. xxv., note 1.) It is interesting to find Polo applying the term _king_ to the viceroys who ruled the great provinces; Ibn Batuta uses a corresponding expression, _sultan_. It is not easy to make out the nine kingdoms or great provinces into which Polo considered Manzi to be divided. Perhaps his _nine_ is after all merely a traditional number, for the "Nine Provinces" was an ancient synonym for China proper, just as _Nau-Khanda_, with like meaning, was an ancient name of India. (See _Cathay_, p. cx.x.xix.

_note_; and _Reinaud, Inde_, p. 116.) But I observe that on the portage road between Chang-shan and Yuh-shan (infra, p. 222) there are stone pillars inscribed "Highway (from Che-kiang) to Eight Provinces," thus indicating Nine. (_Milne_, p. 319.)

NOTE 11.--We have in Ramusio: "The men levied in the province of Manzi are not placed in garrison in their own cities, but sent to others at least 20 days' journey from their homes; and there they serve for four or five years, after which they are relieved. This applies both to the Cathayans and to those of Manzi.

"The great bulk of the revenue of the cities, which enters the exchequer of the Great Kaan, is expended in maintaining these garrisons. And if perchance any city rebel (as you often find that under a kind of madness or intoxication they rise and murder their governors), as soon as it is known, the adjoining cities despatch such large forces from their garrisons that the rebellion is entirely crushed. For it would be too long an affair if troops from Cathay had to be waited for, involving perhaps a delay of two months."

NOTE 12.--"The sons of the dead, wearing hempen clothes as badges of mourning, kneel down," etc. (_Doolittle_, p. 138.)

NOTE 13.--These practices have been noticed, supra, Bk. I. ch. xl.

NOTE 14.--This custom has come down to modern times. In Pauthier's _Chine Moderne_, we find extracts from the statutes of the reigning dynasty and the comments thereon, of which a pa.s.sage runs thus: "To determine the exact population of each province the governor and the lieutenant-governor cause certain persons who are nominated as _Pao-kia_, or t.i.thing-Men, in all the places under their jurisdiction, to add up the figures inscribed on the wooden tickets attached to the doors of houses, and exhibiting the number of the inmates" (p. 167).

Friar Odoric calls the number of fires 89 _tomans_; but says 10 or 12 households would unite to have one fire only!

[1] In the first edition, my best authority on this matter was a lecture on the city by the late Rev. D.D. Green, an American Missionary at Ningpo, which is printed in the November and December numbers for 1869 of the (Fuchau) _Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal_. In the present (second) edition I have on this, and other points embraced in this and the following chapters, benefited largely by the remarks of the Right Rev. G.E. Moule of the Ch. Mission. Soc., now residing at Hang-chau. These are partly contained in a paper (_Notes on Colonel Yule's Edition of Marco Polo's 'Quinsay'_) read before the North China Branch of the R.A.Soc. at Shang-hai in December 1873 [published in New Series, No. IX. of the _Journal N.C.B.R.A.Soc._], of which a proof has been most kindly sent to me by Mr. Moule, and partly in a special communication, both forwarded through Mr. A. Wylie. [See also _Notes on Hangchow Past and Present_, a paper read in 1889 by Bishop G.E.

Moule at a Meeting of the Hangchau Missionary a.s.sociation, at whose request it was compiled, and subsequently printed for private circulation.--H.C.]

[2] The building of the present Luh-ho-ta ("Six Harmonies Tower"), after repeated destructions by fire, is recorded on a fine tablet of the Sung period, still standing (_Moule_).

CHAPTER LXXVII.

[FURTHER PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY.[NOTE 1]]

[The position of the city is such that it has on one side a lake of fresh and exquisitely clear water (already spoken of), and on the other a very large river. The waters of the latter fill a number of ca.n.a.ls of all sizes which run through the different quarters of the city, carry away all impurities, and then enter the Lake; whence they issue again and flow to the Ocean, thus producing a most excellent atmosphere. By means of these channels, as well as by the streets, you can go all about the city. Both streets and ca.n.a.ls are so wide and s.p.a.cious that carts on the one and boats on the other can readily pa.s.s to and fro, conveying necessary supplies to the inhabitants.[NOTE 2]

At the opposite side the city is shut in by a channel, perhaps 40 miles in length, very wide, and full of water derived from the river aforesaid, which was made by the ancient kings of the country in order to relieve the river when flooding its banks. This serves also as a defence to the city, and the earth dug from it has been thrown inwards, forming a kind of mound enclosing the city.[NOTE 3]

In this part are the ten princ.i.p.al markets, though besides these there are a vast number of others in the different parts of the town. The former are all squares of half a mile to the side, and along their front pa.s.ses the main street, which is 40 paces in width, and runs straight from end to end of the city, crossing many bridges of easy and commodious approach. At every four miles of its length comes one of those great squares of 2 miles (as we have mentioned) in compa.s.s. So also parallel to this great street, but at the back of the market places, there runs a very large ca.n.a.l, on the bank of which towards the squares are built great houses of stone, in which the merchants from India and other foreign parts store their wares, to be handy for the markets. In each of the squares is held a market three days in the week, frequented by 40,000 or 50,000 persons, who bring thither for sale every possible necessary of life, so that there is always an ample supply of every kind of meat and game, as of roebuck, red-deer, fallow-deer, hares, rabbits, partridges, pheasants, francolins, quails, fowls, capons, and of ducks and geese an infinite quant.i.ty; for so many are bred on the Lake that for a Venice groat of silver you can have a couple of geese and two couple of ducks. Then there are the shambles where the larger animals are slaughtered, such as calves, beeves, kids, and lambs, the flesh of which is eaten by the rich and the great dignitaries.

[NOTE 4]

Those markets make a daily display of every kind of vegetables and fruits; and among the latter there are in particular certain pears of enormous size, weighing as much as ten pounds apiece, and the pulp of which is white and fragrant like a confection; besides peaches in their season both yellow and white, of every delicate flavour.[NOTE 5]

Neither grapes nor wine are produced there, but very good raisins are brought from abroad, and wine likewise. The natives, however, do not much care about wine, being used to that kind of their own made from rice and spices. From the Ocean Sea also come daily supplies of fish in great quant.i.ty, brought 25 miles up the river, and there is also great store of fish from the lake, which is the constant resort of fishermen, who have no other business. Their fish is of sundry kinds, changing with the season; and, owing to the impurities of the city which pa.s.s into the lake, it is remarkably fat and savoury. Any one who should see the supply of fish in the market would suppose it impossible that such a quant.i.ty could ever be sold; and yet in a few hours the whole shall be cleared away; so great is the number of inhabitants who are accustomed to delicate living. Indeed they eat fish and flesh at the same meal.

All the ten market places are encompa.s.sed by lofty houses, and below these are shops where all sorts of crafts are carried on, and all sorts of wares are on sale, including spices and jewels and pearls. Some of these shops are entirely devoted to the sale of wine made from rice and spices, which is constantly made fresh and fresh, and is sold very cheap.

Certain of the streets are occupied by the women of the town, who are in such a number that I dare not say what it is. They are found not only in the vicinity of the market places, where usually a quarter is a.s.signed to them, but all over the city. They exhibit themselves splendidly attired and abundantly perfumed, in finely garnished houses, with trains of waiting-women. These women are extremely accomplished in all the arts of allurement, and readily adapt their conversation to all sorts of persons, insomuch that strangers who have once tasted their attractions seem to get bewitched, and are so taken with their blandishments and their fascinating ways that they never can get these out of their heads. Hence it comes to pa.s.s that when they return home they say they have been to Kinsay or the City of Heaven, and their only desire is to get back thither as soon as possible.[NOTE 6]

Other streets are occupied by the Physicians, and by the Astrologers, who are also teachers of reading and writing; and an infinity of other professions have their places round about those squares. In each of the squares there are two great palaces facing one another, in which are established the officers appointed by the King to decide differences arising between merchants, or other inhabitants of the quarter. It is the daily duty of these officers to see that the guards are at their posts on the neighbouring bridges, and to punish them at their discretion if they are absent.

All along the main street that we have spoken of, as running from end to end of the city, both sides are lined with houses and great palaces and the gardens pertaining to them, whilst in the intervals are the houses of tradesmen engaged in their different crafts. The crowd of people that you meet here at all hours, pa.s.sing this way and that on their different errands, is so vast that no one would believe it possible that victuals enough could be provided for their consumption, unless they should see how, on every market-day, all those squares are thronged and crammed with purchasers, and with the traders who have brought in stores of provisions by land or water; and everything they bring in is disposed of.

To give you an example of the vast consumption in this city let us take the article of _pepper_; and that will enable you in some measure to estimate what must be the quant.i.ty of victual, such as meat, wine, groceries, which have to be provided for the general consumption. Now Messer Marco heard it stated by one of the Great Kaan's officers of customs that the quant.i.ty of pepper introduced daily for consumption into the city of Kinsay amounted to 43 loads, each load being equal to 223 lbs.

[NOTE 7]

The houses of the citizens are well built and elaborately finished; and the delight they take in decoration, in painting and in architecture, leads them to spend in this way sums of money that would astonish you.

The natives of the city are men of peaceful character, both from education and from the example of their kings, whose disposition was the same. They know nothing of handling arms, and keep none in their houses. You hear of no feuds or noisy quarrels or dissensions of any kind among them. Both in their commercial dealings and in their manufactures they are thoroughly honest and truthful, and there is such a degree of good will and neighbourly attachment among both men and women that you would take the people who live in the same street to be all one family.[NOTE 8]

And this familiar intimacy is free from all jealousy or suspicion of the conduct of their women. These they treat with the greatest respect, and a man who should presume to make loose proposals to a married woman would be regarded as an infamous rascal. They also treat the foreigners who visit them for the sake of trade with great cordiality, and entertain them in the most winning manner, affording them every help and advice on their business. But on the other hand they hate to see soldiers, and not least those of the Great Kaan's garrisons, regarding them as the cause of their having lost their native kings and lords.

On the Lake of which we have spoken there are numbers of boats and barges of all sizes for parties of pleasure. These will hold 10, 15, 20, or more persons, and are from 15 to 20 paces in length, with flat bottoms and ample breadth of beam, so that they always keep their trim. Any one who desires to go a-pleasuring with the women, or with a party of his own s.e.x, hires one of these barges, which are always to be found completely furnished with tables and chairs and all the other apparatus for a feast.

The roof forms a level deck, on which the crew stand, and pole the boat along whithersoever may be desired, for the Lake is not more than 2 paces in depth. The inside of this roof and the rest of the interior is covered with ornamental painting in gay colours, with windows all round that can be shut or opened, so that the party at table can enjoy all the beauty and variety of the prospects on both sides as they pa.s.s along. And truly a trip on this Lake is a much more charming recreation than can be enjoyed on land. For on the one side lies the city in its entire length, so that the spectators in the barges, from the distance at which they stand, take in the whole prospect in its full beauty and grandeur, with its numberless palaces, temples, monasteries, and gardens, full of lofty trees, sloping to the sh.o.r.e. And the Lake is never without a number of other such boats, laden with pleasure parties; for it is the great delight of the citizens here, after they have disposed of the day's business, to pa.s.s the afternoon in enjoyment with the ladies of their families, or perhaps with others less reputable, either in these barges or in driving about the city in carriages.[NOTE 9]

Of these latter we must also say something, for they afford one mode of recreation to the citizens in going about the town, as the boats afford another in going about the Lake. In the main street of the city you meet an infinite succession of these carriages pa.s.sing to and fro. They are long covered vehicles, fitted with curtains and cushions, and affording room for six persons; and they are in constant request for ladies and gentlemen going on parties of pleasure. In these they drive to certain gardens, where they are entertained by the owners in pavilions erected on purpose, and there they divert themselves the livelong day, with their ladies, returning home in the evening in those same carriages.[NOTE 10]

(FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE PALACE OF THE KING FACFUR.)

The whole enclosure of the Palace was divided into three parts. The middle one was entered by a very lofty gate, on each side of which there stood on the ground-level vast pavilions, the roofs of which were sustained by columns painted and wrought in gold and the finest azure. Opposite the gate stood the chief Pavilion, larger than the rest, and painted in like style, with gilded columns, and a ceiling wrought in splendid gilded sculpture, whilst the walls were artfully painted with the stories of departed kings.

On certain days, sacred to his G.o.ds, the King Facfur[1] used to hold a great court and give a feast to his chief lords, dignitaries, and rich manufacturers of the city of Kinsay. On such occasions those pavilions used to give ample accommodation for 10,000 persons sitting at table. This court lasted for ten or twelve days, and exhibited an astonishing and incredible spectacle in the magnificence of the guests, all clothed in silk and gold, with a profusion of precious stones; for they tried to outdo each other in the splendour and richness of their appointments.

Behind this great Pavilion that faced the great gate, there was a wall with a pa.s.sage in it shutting off the inner part of the Palace. On entering this you found another great edifice in the form of a cloister surrounded by a portico with columns, from which opened a variety of apartments for the King and the Queen, adorned like the outer walls with such elaborate work as we have mentioned. From the cloister again you pa.s.sed into a covered corridor, six paces in width, of great length, and extending to the margin of the lake. On either side of this corridor were ten courts, in the form of oblong cloisters surrounded by colonnades; and in each cloister or court were fifty chambers with gardens to each. In these chambers were quartered one thousand young ladies in the service of the King. The King would sometimes go with the Queen and some of these maidens to take his diversion on the Lake, or to visit the Idol-temples, in boats all canopied with silk.

The other two parts of the enclosure were distributed in groves, and lakes, and charming gardens planted with fruit-trees, and preserves for all sorts of animals, such as roe, red-deer, fallow-deer, hares, and rabbits. Here the King used to take his pleasure in company with those damsels of his; some in carriages, some on horseback, whilst no man was permitted to enter. Sometimes the King would set the girls a-coursing after the game with dogs, and when they were tired they would hie to the groves that overhung the lakes, and leaving their clothes there they would come forth naked and enter the water and swim about hither and thither, whilst it was the King's delight to watch them; and then all would return home. Sometimes the King would have his dinner carried to those groves, which were dense with lofty trees, and there would be waited on by those young ladies. And thus he pa.s.sed his life in this constant dalliance with women, without so much as knowing what _arms_ meant! And the result of all this cowardice and effeminacy was that he lost his dominion to the Great Kaan in that base and shameful way that you have heard.[NOTE 11]

All this account was given me by a very rich merchant of Kinsay when I was in that city. He was a very old man, and had been in familiar intimacy with the King Facfur, and knew the whole history of his life; and having seen the Palace in its glory was pleased to be my guide over it. As it is occupied by the King appointed by the Great Kaan, the first pavilions are still maintained as they used to be, but the apartments of the ladies are all gone to ruin and can only just be traced. So also the wall that enclosed the groves and gardens is fallen down, and neither trees nor animals are there any longer.[NOTE 12]]

NOTE 1.--I have, after some consideration, followed the example of Mr. H.

Murray, in his edition of _Marco Polo_, in collecting together in a separate chapter a number of additional particulars concerning the Great City, which are only found in Ramusio. Such of these as could be interpolated in the text of the older form of the narrative have been introduced between brackets in the last chapter. Here I bring together those particulars which could not be so interpolated without taking liberties with one or both texts.

The picture in Ramusio, taken as a whole, is so much more brilliant, interesting, and complete than in the older texts, that I thought of subst.i.tuting it entirely for the other. But so much doubt and difficulty hangs over _some_ pa.s.sages of the Ramusian version that I could not satisfy myself of the propriety of this, though I feel that the dismemberment inflicted on that version is also objectionable.

NOTE 2.--The tides in the Hang-chau estuary are now so furious, entering in the form of a bore, and running sometimes, by Admiral Collinson's measurement, 11-1/2 knots, that it has been necessary to close by weirs the communication which formerly existed between the River Tsien-tang on the one side and the Lake Si-hu and internal waters of the district on the other. Thus all cargoes are pa.s.sed through the small city ca.n.a.l in barges, and are subject to transhipment at the river-bank, and at the great ca.n.a.l terminus outside the north gate, respectively. Mr. Kingsmill, to whose notices I am indebted for part of this information, is, however, mistaken in supposing that in Polo's time the tide stopped some 20 miles below the city. We have seen (note 6, ch. lxv. supra) that the tide in the river before Kinsay was the object which first attracted the attention of Bayan, after his triumphant entrance into the city. The tides reach Fuyang, 20 miles higher. (_N. and Q., China and j.a.pan_, vol. I. p. 53; _Mid. Kingd._ I. 95, 106; _J.N.Ch.Br.R.A.S._, December, 1865, p. 6; _Milne_, p. 295; _Note_ by _Mr. Moule_).

[Miss E. Scidmore writes (_China_, p. 294): "There are only three wonders of the world in China--The Demons at Tungchow, the Thunder at Lungchow, and the Great Tide at Hangchow, the last, the greatest of all, and a living wonder to this day of 'the open door,' while its rivals are lost in myth and oblivion.... The Great Bore charges up the narrowing river at a speed of ten and thirteen miles an hour, with a roar that can be heard for an hour before it arrives."--H.C.]

NOTE 3.--For satisfactory elucidation as to what is or may have been authentic in these statements, we shall have to wait for a correct survey of Hang-chau and its neighbourhood. We have already seen strong reason to suppose that _miles_ have been subst.i.tuted for _li_ in the circuits a.s.signed both to the city and to the lake, and we are yet more strongly impressed with the conviction that the same subst.i.tution has been made here in regard to the ca.n.a.l on the east of the city, as well as the streets and market-places spoken of in the next paragraph.

Chinese plans of Hang-chau do show a large ca.n.a.l encircling the city on the east and north, i.e., on the sides away from the lake. In some of them this is represented like a ditch to the rampart, but in others it is more detached. And the position of the main street, with its parallel ca.n.a.l, does answer fairly to the account in the next paragraph, setting aside the extravagant dimensions.

The existence of the squares or market-places is alluded to by Wa.s.saf in a pa.s.sage that we shall quote below; and the _Masalak-al-Absar_ speaks of the main street running from end to end of the city.

On this Mr. Moule says: "I have found no certain account of market-squares, though the _Fang_,[2] of which a few still exist, and a very large number are laid down in the Sung Map, mainly grouped along the chief street, may perhaps represent them.... The names of some of these (_Fang_) and of the _Sze_ or markets still remain."