The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 55

NOTE 3.--This is the _Colombine_ ginger which appears not unfrequently in mediaeval writings. Pegolotti tells us that "ginger is of several sorts, to wit, _Belledi_, _Colombino_, and _Mecchino_. And these names are bestowed from the producing countries, at least this is the case with the _Colombino_ and _Mecchino_, for the _Belledi_ is produced in many districts of India. The Colombino grows in the Island of Colombo of India, and has a smooth, delicate, ash-coloured rind; whilst the Mecchino comes from the districts about Mecca and is a small kind, hard to cut," etc.

(_Delia Dec._ III. 359.) A century later, in G. da Uzzano, we still find the _Colombino_ and _Belladi_ ginger (IV. 111, 210, etc.). The _Baladi_ is also mentioned by Rashiduddin as an export of Guzerat, and by Barbosa and others as one of Calicut in the beginning of the 16th century. The _Mecchino_ too is mentioned again in that era by a Venetian traveller as grown in the Island of Camran in the Red Sea. Both Columbine (_gigembre columbin_) and Baladi ginger (_gig. baladit_) appear among the purchases for King John of France, during his captivity in England. And we gather from his accounts that the price of the former was 13_d._ a pound, and of the latter 12_d._, sums representing three times the amount of silver that they now indicate, with a higher value of silver also, and hence equivalent to about 4_s._ and 4_s._ 4_d._ a pound. The term _Baladi_ (Ar.), Indigenous or "Country" ginger, indicated ordinary qualities of no particular repute. The word _Baladi_ seems to have become naturalised in Spanish with the meaning "of small value." We have noticed on a former occasion the decay of the demand for pepper in China. Ginger affords a similar example. This spice, so highly prized and so well known throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, I have found to be quite unknown by name and qualities to servants in Palermo of more than average intelligence.

(_Elliot_, I. 67; _Ramusio_, I. f. 275, v. 323; _Dozy and Engelm._ pp.

232-233; _Douet d'Arcq_, p. 218; _Philobiblon Soc. Miscellanies_, vol. ii.

p. 116.)

NOTE 4.--In Bengal Indigo factories artificial heat is employed to promote the drying of the precipitated dye; but this is not essential to the manufacture. Marco's account, though grotesque in its baldness, does describe the chief features of the manufacture of Indigo by fermentation.

The branches are cut and placed stem upwards in the vat till it is three parts full; they are loaded, and then the vat is filled with water.

Fermentation soon begins and goes on till in 24 hours the contents of the vat are so hot that the hand cannot be retained in it. This is what Marco ascribes to the sun's heat. The liquor is then drawn off to another cistern and there agitated; the indigo separates in flakes. A quant.i.ty of lime-water then is added, and the blue is allowed to subside. The clear water is drawn off; the sediment is drained, pressed, and cut into small squares, etc. (See _Madras Journal_, vol. viii. 198.)

Indigo had been introduced into Sicily by the Jews during the time of Frederick II., in the early part of Polo's century. Jews and Indigo have long vanished from Sicily. The dye is often mentioned in Pegolotti's Book; the finest quality being termed _Indaco Baccadeo_ a corruption of _Baghdadi_. Probably it came from India by way of Baghdad. In the Barcelona Tariffs it appears as Indigo de _Bagadel_. Another quality often mentioned is Indigo _di Golfo_. (See _Capmany, Memorias_ II. App. p. 73.) In the bye-laws of the London Painters' Guild of the 13th century, quoted by Sir F. Palgrave from the _Liber Horne_, it is forbidden to paint on gold or silver except with fine (mineral) colours, "_e nient de_ brasil, _ne de_ inde de Baldas, _ne de nul autre mauveise couleur_." (_The Merchant and the Friar_, p. xxiii.) There is now no indigo made or exported at Quilon, but there is still some feeble export of sappanwood, ginger, and pepper. These, and previous particulars as to the present Quilon, I owe to the kindness of Mr. Ballard, British Resident at Trevandrum.

NOTE 5.--Black Tigers and black Leopards are not very rare in Travancore (See _Welsh's Mil. Reminiscences_, II. 102.)

NOTE 6.--Probably founded on local or caste customs of marriage, several of which in South India are very peculiar; e.g., see _Nelson's Madura_, Pt. II. p. 51.

[1] The etymology of the name seems to be doubtful. Dr. Caldwell tells me it is an error to connect it (as in the first edition) with the word for a Tank, which is _Kulam_. The apparent meaning of _Kollam_ is "slaughter," but he thinks the name is best explained as "Palace" or "Royal Residence."

[2] There is still a _Syrian_ church of St. George at Quilon, and a mosque of some importance;--the representatives at least of those noted above, though no actual trace of antiquity of any kind remains at the place. A vague tradition of extensive trade with China yet survives. The form _Columb.u.m_ is accounted for by an inscription, published by the Prince of Travancore (_Ind. Antiq._ II. 360), which shows that the city was called in Sanskrit _Kolamba_. May not the real etymology be Sansk. _Kolam_, "Black Pepper"?

On the suggestion ventured in this note Dr. Caldwell writes:

"I fancy _Kola_, a name for pepper in Sanskrit, may be derived from the name of the country _Kolam_, North Malabar, which is much more celebrated for its pepper than the country around Quilon. This _Kolam_, though resembling _Kollam_, is really a separate word, and never confounded with the latter by the natives. The prince of Kolam (North Malabar) is called _Kolastri_ or _Kolattiri_[A]. Compare also _Kolagiri_, the name of a hill in the Sanskrit dictionaries, called also the _Kolla giri_. The only possible derivations for the Tamil and Malayalim name of Quilon that I am acquainted with are these: (1) From _Kolu_, the 'Royal Presence' or presence-chamber, or hall of audience. _Kollam_ might naturally be a derivation of this word; and in confirmation I find that other residences of Malabar kings were also called Kollam, e.g. Kodungalur or Cranganore. (2) From _Kolu_, the same word, but with the meaning 'a height' or 'high-ground'. Hence _Kollei_, a very common word in Tamil for a 'dry grain field, a back-yard'. _Kolli_ is also, in the Tamil poets, said to be the name of a hill in the Chera country, i.e. the Malabar coast. _Kolam_ in Tamil has not the meaning of pepper; it means 'beauty', and it is said also to mean the fruit of the jujuba. (3) It might possibly be derived from _Kol_, to slay;--_Kollam_, slaughter, or a place where some slaughter happened ... in the absence, however, of any tradition to this effect, this derivation seems improbable."

[A] see II. 387.

[3] Burnell.

[4] The translated pa.s.sage about _'Apuhota_ is a little obscure. The name looks like _Kapukada_, which was the site of a palace north of _Calicut_ (not in Kaulam), the _Capucate_ of the Portuguese.

[5] _Dr. Caldwell_.

[6] Indeed, Humboldt speaks of Brazil Isle as appearing to the west of Ireland in a modern English map-_Purdy's_; but I do not know its date. (See _Examen_, etc., II. 244-245)

CHAPTER XXIII.

OF THE COUNTRY CALLED COMARI

Comari is a country belonging to India, and there you can see something of the North Star, which we had not been able to see from the Lesser Java thus far. In order to see it you must go some 30 miles out to sea, and then you see it about a cubit above the water.[NOTE 1]

This is a very wild country, and there are beasts of all kinds there, especially monkeys of such peculiar fashion that you would take them for men! There are also _gatpauls_[NOTE 2] in wonderful diversity, with bears, lions, and leopards, in abundance.

NOTE 1.--_k.u.mari_ is in some versions of the Hindu cosmography the most southerly of the nine divisions of Jambodvipa, the Indian world. Polo's Comari can only be the country about Cape COMORIN, the [Greek: komaria akron] of Ptolemy, a name derived from the Sanskrit _k.u.mari_, "a Virgin," an appellation of the G.o.ddess Durga. The monthly bathing in her honour, spoken of by the author of the _Periplus_, is still continued, though now the pilgrims are few. Abulfeda speaks of _Ras k.u.mhari_ as the limit between Malabar and Ma'bar. _k.u.mari_ is the Tamul p.r.o.nunciation of the Sanskrit word and probably _Comari_ was Polo's p.r.o.nunciation.

At the beginning of the Portuguese era in India we hear of a small Kingdom of COMORI, the prince of which had succeeded to the kingdom of Kaulam. And this, as Dr. Caldwell points out, must have been the state which is now called Travancore. k.u.mari has been confounded by some of the Arabian Geographers, or their modern commentators, with _k.u.mar_, one of the regions supplying aloes-wood, and which was apparently _Khmer_ or Kamboja.

(_Caldwell's Drav. Grammar_, p. 67; _Gildem._ 185; _Ram._ I. 333.)

The cut that we give is, as far as I know, the first genuine view of Cape Comorin ever published.

[Mr. Talboys Wheeler, in his _History of India_, vol. iii. (p. 386), says of this tract:

"The region derives its name from a temple which was erected there in honour of k.u.mari, 'the Virgin'; the infant babe who had been exchanged for Krishna, and ascended to heaven at the approach of Kansa." And in a note:

"Colonel Yule identifies k.u.mari with Durga. This is an error. The temple of k.u.mari was erected by Krishna Raja of Narsinga, a zealous patron of the Vaishnavas."

Mr. Wheeler quotes Faria y Souza, who refers the object of worship to what is meant for this story (II. 394), but I presume from Mr. Wheeler's mention of the builder of the temple, which does not occur in the Portuguese history, that he has other information. The application of the Virgin t.i.tle connected with the name of the place, may probably have varied with the ages, and, as there is no time to obtain other evidence, I have removed the words which identified the _existing temple_ with that of Durga. But my authority for identifying the _object of worship_, in whose honour the pilgrims bathe monthly at Cape Comorin, with Durga, is the excellent one of Dr. Caldwell. (See his _Dravidian Grammar_ as quoted in the pa.s.sage above.) Krishna Raja of whom Mr. Wheeler speaks, reigned after the Portuguese were established in India, but it is not probable that the Krishna stories of that cla.s.s were even known in the Peninsula (or perhaps anywhere else) in the time of the author of the _Periplus_, 1450 years before; and 'tis as little likely that the locality owed its name to Yasoda's Infant, as that it owed it to the Madonna in St. Francis Xavier's Church that overlooks the Cape.

Fra Paolino, in his unsatisfactory way (_Viaggio_, p. 68), speaks of Cape Comorin, "which the Indians call _Canyamuri_, _Virginis Promontorium_, or simply _Comari_ or _c.u.mari_ 'a Virgin,' because they pretend that anciently the G.o.ddess _Comari_ 'the Damsel,' who is the Indian Diana or Hecate, used to bathe" etc. However, we can discover from his book elsewhere (see pp. 79, 285) that by the Indian Diana he means Parvati, i.e. Durga.

La.s.sen at first[1] identified the k.u.mari of the Cape with Parvati; but afterwards connected the name with a story in the Mahabharata about certain _Apsarases_ changed into Crocodiles.[2] On the whole there does not seem sufficient ground to deny that Parvati was the _original_ object of worship at k.u.mari, though the name may have lent itself to various legends.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cape Comorin (From a sketch by Mr. Foote, of the Geological Survey of India)]

NOTE 2.--I have not been able to ascertain with any precision what animal is meant by _Gat-paul_. The term occurs again, coupled with monkeys as here, at p. 240 of the Geog. Text, where, speaking of Abyssinia, it is said: "_Il ont_ gat paulz _et autre gat-maimon si divisez_," etc. _Gatto maimone_, for an ape of some kind, is common in old Italian, the latter part of the term, from the Pers. _Maimun_, being possibly connected with our _Baboon_. And that the _Gat-paul_ was also some kind of ape is confirmed by the Spanish Dictionaries. Cobarrubias gives: "_Gato-Paus_, a kind of tailed monkey. _Gato-paus, Gato pablo_; perhaps as they call a monkey 'Martha,' they may have called this particular monkey 'Paul,'" etc.

(f. 431 v.). So also the _Diccion. de la Lengua Castellana comp. por la Real Academia_ (1783) gives: "_Gato Paul_, a kind of monkey of a grey colour, black muzzle and very broad tail." In fact, the word is used by Columbus, who, in his own account of his third voyage, describes a hill on the coast of Paria as covered with a species of _Gatos Paulos_. (See _Navarrete_, Fr. ed. III. 21, also 147-148.) It also occurs in _Marmol, Desc. General de Affrica_, who says that one kind of monkeys has a black face; "_y estas comunemente se llaman en Espana_ Gatos Paules, _las quales se crian en la tierra de los Negros_" (I. f. 27). It is worth noting that the revisers of the text adopted by Pauthier have not understood the word.

For they subst.i.tute for the "_Il hi a_ gat paul _si divisez qe ce estoit mervoille_" of the Geog. Text, "_et si a moult de_ granz paluz _et moult grans pantains a merveilles_"--wonderful swamps and marshes! The Pipino Latin has adhered to the correct reading--"_Ibi sunt_ cati qui dic.u.n.tur pauli, _valde diversi ab aliis_."

[1] _Ind. Alt._ 1st ed. I. 158.

[2] Id. 564; and 2nd ed. I. 103.

CHAPTER XXIV.

CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF ELI.

Eli is a kingdom towards the west, about 300 miles from Comari. The people are Idolaters and have a king, and are tributary to n.o.body; and have a peculiar language. We will tell you particulars about their manners and their products, and you will better understand things now because we are drawing near to places that are not so outlandish.[NOTE 1]

There is no proper harbour in the country, but there are many great rivers with good estuaries, wide and deep.[NOTE 2] Pepper and ginger grow there, and other spices in quant.i.ties.[NOTE 3] The King is rich in treasure, but not very strong in forces. The approach to his kingdom however is so strong by nature that no one can attack him, so he is afraid of n.o.body.

And you must know that if any ship enters their estuary and anchors there, having been bound for some other port, they seize her and plunder the cargo. For they say, "You were bound for somewhere else, and 'tis G.o.d has sent you hither to us, so we have a right to all your goods." And they think it no sin to act thus. And this naughty custom prevails all over these provinces of India, to wit, that if a ship be driven by stress of weather into some other port than that to which it was bound, it is sure to be plundered. But if a ship come bound originally to the place they receive it with all honour and give it due protection.[NOTE 4] The ships of Manzi and other countries that come hither in summer lay in their cargoes in 6 or 8 days and depart as fast as possible, because there is no harbour other than the river-mouth, a mere roadstead and sandbanks, so that it is perilous to tarry there. The ships of Manzi indeed are not so much afraid of these roadsteads as others are, because they have such huge wooden anchors which hold in all weather.[NOTE 5]

There are many lions and other wild beasts here and plenty of game, both beast and bird.

NOTE 1.--No city or district is now known by the name of ELY, but the name survives in that of Mount _Dely_, properly Monte d'ELY, the _Yeli-mala_ of the Malabar people, and called also in the legends of the coast _Sapta-shaila_, or the Seven Hills. This is the only spur of the Ghats that reaches the sea within the Madras territory. It is an isolated and very conspicuous hill, or cl.u.s.ter of hills, forming a promontory some 16 miles north of Cananore, the first Indian land seen by Vasco da Gama, on that memorable August morning in 1498, and formerly very well known to navigators, though it has been allowed to drop out of some of our most ambitious modern maps. Abulfeda describes it as "a great mountain projecting into the sea, and descried from a great distance, called _Ras Haili_"; and it appears in Fra Mauro's map as _Cavo de Eli_.

Rashiduddin mentions "the country of Hili," between _Manjarur_ (Mangalore) and Fandaraina (miswritten in Elliot's copy _Sadarsa_). Ibn Batuta speaks of Hili, which he reached on leaving Manjarur, as "a great and well-built city, situated on a large estuary accessible to great ships. The vessels of China come hither; this, Kaulam, and Kalikut, are the only ports that they enter." From Hili he proceeds 12 miles further down the coast to _Jor-fattan_, which probably corresponds to Baliapatan. ELLY appears in the Carta Catalana, and is marked as a Christian city. Nicolo Conti is the last to speak distinctly of the city. Sailing from Cambay, in 20 days he arrived at two cities on the sea-sh.o.r.e, _Pacamuria_ (_Faknur_, of Rashid and Firishta, _Baccanor_ of old books, and now _Barkur_, the Malayalim _Vakkanur_) and h.e.l.lI. But we read that in 1527 Simon de Melo was sent to burn ships in the River of _Marabia_ and at _Monte d'Elli_.[1] When Da Gama on his second voyage was on his way from Baticala (in Canara) to Cananor, a squall having sprung his mainmast just before reaching Mt.

d'Ely, "the captain-major anch.o.r.ed in the Bay of Marabia, because he saw there several Moorish ships, in order to get a mast from them." It seems clear that this was the bay just behind Mt. d'Ely.