The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 33

NOTE 2.--See vol. i. p. 312.

NOTE 3.--These particulars as to a race of painted or tattooed caterans accused of cannibalism apparently apply to some aboriginal tribe which still maintained its ground in the mountains between Fo-kien and Che-kiang or Kiang-si. Davis, alluding to the Upper part of the Province of Canton, says: "The Chinese History speaks of the aborigines of this wild region under the name of Man (Barbarians), who within a comparatively recent period were subdued and incorporated into the Middle Nation. Many persons have remarked a decidedly Malay cast in the features of the natives of this province; and it is highly probable that the Canton and Fo-kien people were originally the same race as the tribes which still remain unreclaimed on the east side of Formosa."[1] (_Supply. Vol._ p. 260.) Indeed Martini tells us that even in the 17th century this very range of mountains, farther to the south, in the Ting-chau department of Fo-kien, contained a race of uncivilised people, who were enabled by the inaccessible character of the country to maintain their independence of the Chinese Government (p. 114; see also _Semedo_, p. 19).

["Colonel Yule's 'pariah caste' of Shao-ling, who, he says, rebelled against either the Sung or the Yuan, are evidently the _tomin_ of Ningpo and _zikas_ of Wenchow. Colonel Yule's 'some aboriginal tribe between Fo-kien and Che-kiang' are probably the _zikas_ of Wenchow and the _siapo_ of Fu-kien described by recent travellers. The _zikas_ are locally called dogs' heads, which ill.u.s.trates Colonel Yule's allophylian theories."

(_Parker, China Review_, XIV. p. 359.) Cf. _A Visit to the "Dog-Headed Barbarians" or Hill People, near Fu-chow, by Rev. F. Ohlinger, Chinese Recorder_, July, 1886, pp. 265-268.--H.C.]

NOTE 4.--Padre Martini long ago pointed out that this _Quelinfu_ is KIEN-NING FU, on the upper part of the Min River, an important city of Fo-kien. In the Fo-kien dialect he notices that _l_ is often subst.i.tuted for _n_, a well-known instance of which is _Liampoo_, the name applied by F.M. Pinto and the old Portuguese to _Ningpo_.

[Mr. Phillips writes (_T. Pao_, I. p. 224): "From Pucheng to Kien-Ning-Foo the distance is 290 _li_, all down stream. I consider this to have been the route followed by Polo. His calling Kien-Ning-Foo, Que-lin-fu, is quite correct, as far as the Ling is concerned, the people of the city and of the whole southern province p.r.o.nounce Ning, Ling. The Ramusian version gives very full particulars regarding the manufactures of Kien-Ning-Foo, which are not found in the other texts; for example, silk is said in this version to be woven into various stuffs, and further: 'They also make much cotton cloth of dyed thread which is sent all over Manzi.' All this is quite true. Much silk was formerly and is still woven in Kien-Ning, and the manufacture of cotton cloth with dyed threads is very common. Such stuff is called Hung Lu Kin 'red and green cloth.' Cotton cloth, made with dyed thread, is also very common in our day in many other cities in Fuh-Kien."--H.C.]

In Ramusio the bridges are only "each more than 100 paces long and 8 paces wide." In Pauthier's text _each_ is a mile long, and 20 feet wide. I translate from the G.T.

Martini describes _one_ beautiful bridge at Kien-ning fu: the piers of cut stone, the superstructure of timber, roofed in and lined with houses on each side (pp. 112-113). If this was over the Min it would seem not to survive. A recent journal says: "The river is crossed by a bridge of boats, the remains of a stone bridge being visible just above water."

(_Chinese Recorder_ (Foochow), August, 1870, p. 65.)

NOTE 5.--_Galanga_ or Galangal is an aromatic root belonging to a cla.s.s of drugs once much more used than now. It exists of two kinds: 1. _Great_ or _Java Galangal_, the root of the _Alpinia Galanga_. This is rarely imported and hardly used in Europe in modern times, but is still found in the Indian bazaars. 2. _Lesser_ or _China Galangal_ is imported into London from Canton, and is still sold by druggists in England. Its botanical origin is unknown. It is produced in Shan-si, Fo-kien, and Kw.a.n.g-tung, and is called by the Chinese _Liang Kiang_ or "Mild Ginger."

["According to the Chinese authors the province of Sze-ch'wan and Han-chung (Southern Shen-si) were in ancient times famed for their Ginger.

Ginger is still exported in large quant.i.ties from Han k'ou. It is known also to be grown largely in the southern provinces.--Galingale is the Lesser or Chinese Galanga of commerce, _Alpinia officinarum_ Hance."

(_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 2. See _Heyd, Com. Levant_, II.

616-618.)--H.C.]

Galangal was much used as a spice in the Middle Ages. In a syrup for a capon, _temp._ Rich. II., we find ground-ginger, cloves, cinnamon and _galingale_. "Galingale" appears also as a growth in old English gardens, but this is believed to have been _Cyperus Longus_, the tubers of which were subst.i.tuted for the real article under the name of English Galingale.

The name appears to be a modification of the Arabic _Kulijan_, Pers.

_Kholinjan_, and these from the Sanskrit _Kulanjana_. (_Mr. Hanbury; China Comm.-Guide_, 120; _Eng. Cycl.; Garcia_, f. 63; _Wright_, p. 352.)

NOTE 6.--The cat in question is no doubt the fleecy Persian. These fowls,--but white,--are mentioned by Odoric at Fu-chau; and Mr. G.

Phillips in a MS. note says that they are still abundant in Fo-kien, where he has often seen them; all that he saw or heard of were _white_. The Chinese call them "velvet-hair fowls." I believe they are well known to poultry-fanciers in Europe. [_Gallus Lanatus_, Temm. See note, p. 286, of my edition of Odoric.--H.C.]

NOTE 7.--The _times_ a.s.signed in this chapter as we have given them, after the G. Text, appear very short; but I have followed that text because it is perfectly consistent and clear. Starting from the last city of Kinsay government, the traveller goes six days south-east; _three_ out of those six days bring him to Kelinfu; he goes on the other three days and at the 15th mile of the 3rd day reaches Unken; 15 miles further bring him to Fuju. This is interesting as showing that Polo reckoned his day at 30 miles.

In Pauthier's text again we find: "_Sachiez que quand on est ale_ six journees, apres ces trois que je vous ay dit," not having mentioned _trois_ at all "_on treuve la cite de Quelifu_." And on leaving Quelinfu: "_Sachiez que_ es autres trois journees oultre et plus xv. milles _treuve l'en une cite qui a nom Vuguen_." This seems to mean from Cugui to Kelinfu six days, and thence to Vuguen (or Unken) three and a half days more. But evidently there has been bungling in the transcript, for the _es autre trois journees_ belongs to the same conception of the distance as that in the G.T. Pauthier's text does not say how far it is from Unken to Fuju. Ramusio makes six days to Kelinfu, three days more to Unguem, and then 15 miles more to Fuju (which he has erroneously as _Cugiu_ here, though previously given right, _Fugiu_).

The latter scheme looks probable certainly, but the times in the G.T. are quite admissible, if we suppose that water conveyance was adopted where possible.

For a.s.suming that _Cugiu_ was Fortune's Chuchu at the western base of the Bohea mountains (see note 3, ch. lxxix.), and that the traveller reached Tsun-ngan-hien, in two marches, I see that from Tsin-tsun, near Tsun-ngan-hien, Fortune says he could have reached Fu-chau in four days by boat. Again Martini, speaking of the skill with which the Fo-kien boatmen navigate the rocky rapids of the upper waters, says that even from _Pu-ch'eng_ the descent to the capital could be made in three days. So the thing is quite possible, and the G. Text may be quite correct. (See _Fortune_, II. 171-183 and 210; _Mart._ 110.) A party which recently made the journey seem to have been six days from _Hokeu_ to the Wu-e-shan and then five and a half days by water (but in stormy weather) to Fu-chau.

(_Chinese Recorder_, as above.)

NOTE 8.--Pauthier supposes Unken, or _Vuguen_ as he reads it, to be _Hukwan_, one of the _hiens_ under the immediate administration of Fu-chau city. This cannot be, according to the lucid reading of the G.T., making Unken 15 miles from the chief city. The only place which the maps show about that position is _Min-ts'ing hien_. And the Dutch mission of 1664-1665 names this as "Binkin, by some called Min-sing." (_Astley_, III.

461.)

[Mr. Phillips writes (_T. Pao_, I. 224-225): "Going downstream from Kien-Ning, we arrive first at Yen-Ping on the Min Main River. Eighty-seven _li_ further down is the mouth of the Yiu-Ki River, up which stream, at a distance of eighty _li_, is Yiu-Ki city, where travellers disembark for the land journey to Yung-chun and Chinchew. This route is the highway from the town of Yiu-Ki to the seaport of Chinchew. This I consider to have been Polo's route, and Ramusio's Unguen I believe to be Yung-chun, locally known as Eng-chun or Ung-chun, a name greatly resembling Polo's Unguen. I look upon this mere resemblance of name as of small moment in comparison with the weighty and important statement, that 'this place is remarkable for a great manufacture of sugar.' Going south from the Min River towards Chin-chew, this is the first district in which sugar-cane is seen growing in any quant.i.ty. Between Kien-Ning-Foo and Fuchau I do not know of any place remarkable for the _great_ manufacture of sugar. Pauthier makes How-Kuan do service for Unken or Unguen, but this is inadmissible, as there is no such place as How-Kuan; it is simply one of the divisions of the city of Fuchau, which is divided into two districts, viz. the Min-Hien and the How-Kuan-Hien. A small quant.i.ty of sugar-cane is, I admit, grown in the How-Kuan division of Fuchau-foo, but it is not extensively made into sugar.

The cane grown there is usually cut into short pieces for chewing and hawked about the streets for sale. The nearest point to Foochow where sugar is made in any great quant.i.ty is Yung-Foo, a place quite out of Polo's route. The great sugar manufacturing districts of Fuh-Kien are Hing-hwa, Yung-chun, Chinchew, and Chang-chau."--H. C]

The _Babylonia_ of the pa.s.sage from Ramusio is Cairo,--Babylon of Egypt, the sugar of which was very famous in the Middle Ages. _Zucchero di Bambellonia_ is repeatedly named in Pegolotti's Handbook (210, 311, 362, etc.).

The pa.s.sage as it stands represents the Chinese as not knowing even how to get sugar in the granular form: but perhaps the fact was that they did not know how to _refine_ it. Local Chinese histories acknowledge that the people of Fo-kien did not know how to make fine sugar, till, in the time of the Mongols, certain men from the West taught the art.[2] It is a curious ill.u.s.tration of the pa.s.sage that in India coa.r.s.e sugar is commonly called _Chini_, "the produce of China," and sugar candy or fine sugar _Misri_, the produce of Cairo (_Babylonia_) or Egypt. Nevertheless, fine _Misri_ has long been exported from Fo-kien to India, and down to 1862 went direct from Amoy. It is now, Mr. Phillips states, sent to India by steamers via Hong-Kong. I see it stated, in a late Report by Mr. Consul Medhurst, that the sugar at this day commonly sold and consumed throughout China is excessively coa.r.s.e and repulsive in appearance. (See _Academy_, February, 1874, p. 229.) [We note from the _Returns of Trade for 1900_, of the Chinese Customs, p. 467, that during that year 1900, the following quant.i.ties of sugar were exported from Amoy: _Brown_, 89,116 _piculs_, value 204,969 Hk. taels; _white_, 3,708 _piculs_, 20,024 Hk. taels; _candy_, 53,504 _piculs_, 304,970 Hk. taels.--H.C.]

[Dr. Bretschneider (_Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 2) remarks that "the sugar cane although not indigenous in China, was known to the Chinese in the 2nd century B.C. It is largely cultivated in the Southern provinces."--H.C.]

The fierce lions are, as usual, tigers. These are numerous in this province, and tradition points to the diversion of many roads, owing to their being infested by tigers. Tiger cubs are often offered for sale in Amoy.[3]

[1] "It is not improbable that there is some admixture of aboriginal blood in the actual population (of Fuh-Kien), but if so, it cannot be much.

The _surnames_ in this province are the same as those in Central and North China.... The language also is pure Chinese; actually much nearer the ancient form of Chinese than the modern Mandarin dialect.

There are indeed many words in the vernacular for which no corresponding character has been found in the literary style: but careful investigation is gradually diminishing the number." (_Note by Rev. Dr. C. Douglas_.)

[2] _Note_ by _Mr. C. Phillips_. I omit a corroborative quotation about sugar from the Turkish Geography, copied from Klaproth in the former edition: because the author, Hajji Khalfa, used European sources; and I have no doubt the pa.s.sage was derived indirectly from Marco Polo.

[3] _Note_ by _Mr. G. Phillips_.

CHAPTER Lx.x.xI.

CONCERNING THE GREATNESS OF THE CITY OF FUJU.

Now this city of Fuju is the key of the kingdom which is called CHONKA, and which is one of the nine great divisions of Manzi.[NOTE 1] The city is a seat of great trade and great manufactures. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan. And a large garrison is maintained there by that prince to keep the kingdom in peace and subjection. For the city is one which is apt to revolt on very slight provocation.

There flows through the middle of this city a great river, which is about a mile in width, and many ships are built at the city which are launched upon this river. Enormous quant.i.ties of sugar are made there, and there is a great traffic in pearls and precious stones. For many ships of India come to these parts bringing many merchants who traffic about the Isles of the Indies. For this city is, as I must tell you, in the vicinity of the Ocean Port of ZAYTON,[NOTE 2] which is greatly frequented by the ships of India with their cargoes of various merchandize; and from Zayton ships come this way right up to the city of Fuju by the river I have told you of; and 'tis in this way that the precious wares of India come hither.

[NOTE 3]

The city is really a very fine one and kept in good order, and all necessaries of life are there to be had in great abundance and cheapness.

NOTE 1.--The name here applied to Fo-kien by Polo is variously written as _Choncha, Chonka, Concha, Chouka_. It has not been satisfactorily explained. Klaproth and Neumann refer it to _Kiang-Che_, of which Fo-kien at one time of the Mongol rule formed a part. This is the more improbable as Polo expressly distinguishes this province or kingdom from that which was under Kinsay, viz. Kiang-Che. Pauthier supposes the word to represent _Kien-Kwe_ "the Kingdom of Kien," because in the 8th century this territory had formed a princ.i.p.ality of which the seat was at _Kien-chau_, now Kien-ning fu. This is not satisfactory either, for no evidence is adduced that the name continued in use.

One might suppose that _Choncha_ represented _T'swan-chau_, the Chinese name of the city of Zayton, or rather of the department attached to it, written by the French _Thsiuan-tcheou_, but by Medhurst _Chwanchew_, were it not that Polo's practice of writing the term _tcheu_ or _chau_ by _giu_ is so nearly invariable, and that the soft _ch_ is almost always expressed in the old texts by the Italian _ci_ (though the Venetian does use the soft _ch_).[1]

It is again impossible not to be struck with the resemblance of _Chonka_ to "CHUNG-KWe" "the Middle Kingdom," though I can suggest no ground for the application of such a t.i.tle specially to Fo-kien, except a possible misapprehension. _Chonkwe_ occurs in the Persian _Historia Cathaica_ published by Muller, but is there specially applied to _North China_. (See _Quat. Rashid._, p. lx.x.xvi.)

The city of course is FU-CHAU. It was visited also by Friar Odoric, who calls it _Fuzo_, and it appears in duplicate on the Catalan Map as _Fugio_ and as _Fozo_.

I used the preceding words, "the city of course is Fu-chau," in the first edition. Since then Mr. G. Phillips, of the consular staff in Fo-kien, has tried to prove that Polo's Fuju is not Fu-chau (_Foochow_ is his spelling), but T'swan-chau. This view is bound up with another regarding the ident.i.ty of Zayton, which will involve lengthy notice under next chapter; and both views have met with an able advocate in the Rev. Dr. C.

Douglas, of Amoy.[2] I do not in the least accept these views about Fuju.

In considering the objections made to Fu-chau, it must never be forgotten that, according to the spelling usual with Polo or his scribe, Fuju is not merely "a name with a great resemblance in sound to Foochow" (as Mr.

Phillips has it); it _is_ Mr. Phillips's word Foochow, just as absolutely as my word Fu-chau is his word Foochow. (See remarks almost at the end of the Introductory Essay.) And what has to be proved against me in this matter is, that when Polo _speaks_ of Fu-chau he does not _mean_ Fu-chau.

It must also be observed that the distances as given by Polo (three days from Quelinfu to Fuju, five days from Fuju to Zayton) do correspond well with my interpretations, and do _not_ correspond with the other. These are very strong fences of my position, and it demands strong arguments to level them. The adverse arguments (in brief) are these:

(1.) That Fu-chau was not the capital of Fo-kien ("_chief dou reigne_").

(2.) That the River of Fu-chau does not flow through the middle of the city ("_por le mi de cest cite_"), nor even under the walls.

(3.) That Fu-chau was not frequented by foreign trade till centuries afterwards.