The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 57

The people are the most desperate pirates in existence, and one of their atrocious practices is this. When they have taken a merchant-vessel they force the merchants to swallow a stuff called _Tamarindi_ mixed in sea-water, which produces a violent purging.[NOTE 2] This is done in case the merchants, on seeing their danger, should have swallowed their most valuable stones and pearls. And in this way the pirates secure the whole.

In this province of Gozurat there grows much pepper, and ginger, and indigo. They have also a great deal of cotton. Their cotton trees are of very great size, growing full six paces high, and attaining to an age of 20 years. It is to be observed however that, when the trees are so old as that, the cotton is not good to spin, but only to quilt or stuff beds withal. Up to the age of 12 years indeed the trees give good spinning cotton, but from that age to 20 years the produce is inferior.[NOTE 3]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mediaeval Architecture in Guzerat. (From Fergusson.)]

They dress in this country great numbers of skins of various kinds, goat-skins, ox-skins, buffalo and wild ox-skins, as well as those of unicorns and other animals. In fact so many are dressed every year as to load a number of ships for Arabia and other quarters. They also work here beautiful mats in red and blue leather, exquisitely inlaid with figures of birds and beasts, and skilfully embroidered with gold and silver wire.

These are marvellously beautiful things; they are used by the Saracens to sleep upon, and capital they are for that purpose. They also work cushions embroidered with gold, so fine that they are worth six marks of silver a piece, whilst some of those sleeping-mats are worth ten marks.[NOTE 4]

NOTE 1.--Again we note the topographical confusion. Guzerat is mentioned as if it were a province adjoining Malabar, and before arriving at Tana, Cambay, and Somnath; though in fact it includes those three cities, and Cambay was then its great mart. Wa.s.saf, Polo's contemporary, perhaps acquaintance, speaks of Gujarat which is commonly called Kambayat.

(_Elliot_, III. 31.)

NOTE 2.--["The origin of the name [_Tamarina_] is curious. It is Ar.

_tamar-u'l-Hind_, 'date of India,' or perhaps rather, in Persian form, _tamar-i-Hindi_. It is possible that the original name may have been _thamar_, ('fruit') of India, rather than _tamar_, ('date')."

(_Hobson-Jobson_.)]

NOTE 3.--The notice of pepper here is hard to explain. But Hiuen Tsang also speaks of Indian pepper and incense (see next chapter) as grown at _'Ochali_ which seems to be some place on the northern border of Guzerat (II. 161).

Marsden, in regard to the cotton, supposes here some confused introduction of the silk-cotton tree (_Bombax_ or _Salmalia_, the Semal of Hindustan), but the description would be entirely inapplicable to that great forest tree. It is remarkable that nearly the same statement with regard to Guzerat occurs in Rashiduddin's sketch of India, as translated in Sir H.

Elliot's _History of India_ (_ed. by Professor Dowson_, I. 67): "Grapes are produced twice during the year, and the strength of the soil is such that cotton-plants grow like willows and plane-trees, and yield produce ten years running." An author of later date, from whom extracts are given in the same work, viz., Mahommed Masum in his _History of Sind_, describing the wonders of Siwi, says: "In Korzamin and Chhatur, which are districts of Siwi, cotton-plants grow as large as trees, insomuch that men pick the cotton mounted" (p. 237).

These would appear to have been plants of the species of true cotton called by Royle _Gossipium arboreum_ and sometimes termed _G. religiosum_, from its being often grown in South India near temples or abodes of devotees; though the latter name has been applied also to the nankeen cotton. That of which we speak is, however, according to Dr. Cleghorn, termed in Mysore _Deo kapas_, of which _G. religiosum_ would be a proper translation. It is grown in various parts of India, but generally rather for ornament than use. It is stated, however, to be specially used for the manufacture of turbans, and for the Brahmanical thread, and probably afforded the groundwork of the story told by Philostratus of the _wild_ cotton which was used only for the sacred vestments of the Brahmans, and refused to lend itself to other uses. One of Royle's authorities (Mr.

Vaupell) mentions that it was grown near large towns of Eastern Guzerat, and its wool regarded as the finest of any, and only used in delicate muslins. Tod speaks of it in Bikanir, and this kind of cotton appears to be grown also in China, as we gather from a pa.s.sage in _Amyot's Memoires_ (II. 606), which speaks of the "Cotonniers arbres, qui ne devoient etre fertiles qu'apres un bon nombre d'annees."

The height appears to have been a difficulty with Marsden, who refers to the _G. arboreum_, but does not admit that it could be intended. Yet I see in the _English Cyclopaedia_ that to this species is a.s.signed a height of 15 to 20 feet. Polo's six paces therefore, even if it means 30 feet as I think, is not a great exaggeration. (_Royle, Cult. of Cotton_, 144, 145, 152; _Eng. Cycl._ art. _Gossypium_.)

NOTE 4.--Embroidered and Inlaid leather-work for bed-covers, palankin mats and the like, is still a great manufacture in Rajkot and other places of Kattiawar in Peninsular Guzerat, as well as in the adjoining region of Sind. (Note from _Sir Bartle Frere_.) The _embroidery_ of Guzerat is highly commended by Barbosa, Linschoten, and A. Hamilton.

The G.T. adds at the end of this pa.s.sage: "E qe voz en diroi? Sachies tout voiremant qe en ceste reingne se labore _roiaus dereusse_ de cuir et plus sotilment que ne fait en tout lo monde, e celz qe sunt de greingnors vailance."

CHAPTER XXVII.

CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF TANA.

Tana is a great kingdom lying towards the west, a kingdom great both in size and worth. The people are Idolaters, with a language of their own, and a king of their own, and tributary to n.o.body.[NOTE 1] No pepper grows there, nor other spices, but plenty of incense; not the white kind however, but brown.[NOTE 2]

There is much traffic here, and many ships and merchants frequent the place; for there is a great export of leather of various excellent kinds, and also of good buckram and cotton. The merchants in their ships also import various articles, such as gold, silver, copper, and other things in demand.

With the King's connivance many corsairs launch from this port to plunder merchants. These corsairs have a covenant with the King that he shall get all the horses they capture, and all other plunder shall remain with them.

The King does this because he has no horses of his own, whilst many are shipped from abroad towards India; for no ship ever goes thither without horses in addition to other cargo. The practice is naughty and unworthy of a king.

NOTE 1.--The town of THaNA, on the landward side of the island of Salsette, still exists, about 20 miles from Bombay. The Great Peninsular Railroad here crosses the strait which separates Salsette from the Continent.

The _Konkan_ is no doubt what was intended by the kingdom of _Thana_.

Albiruni speaks of that city as the capital of Konkan; Rashiduddin calls it _Konkan-Tana_, Ibn Batuta _Kukin-Tana_, the last a form which appears in the Carta Catalana as _Cucintana_. Tieffentaller writes _Kokan_, and this is said (_Cunningham's Anc. Geog._ 553) to be the local p.r.o.nunciation. Abulfeda speaks of it as a very celebrated place of trade, producing a kind of cloth which was called _Tanasi_, bamboos, and _Tabashir_ derived from the ashes of the bamboo.

As early as the 16th year of the Hijra (A.D. 637) an Arab fleet from Oman made a hostile descent on the Island of Thana, i.e. Salsette. The place (_Sri Sthanaka_) appears from inscriptions to have been the seat of a Hindu kingdom of the Konkan, in the 11th century. In Polo's time Thana seems to have been still under a Hindu prince, but it soon afterwards became subject to the Delhi sovereigns; and when visited by Jorda.n.u.s and by Odoric some thirty years after Polo's voyage, a Mussulman governor was ruling there, who put to death four Franciscans, the companions of Jorda.n.u.s. Barbosa gives it the compound name of TANA-MAIAMBU, the latter part being the first indication I know of the name of Bombay (_Mambai_).

It was still a place of many mosques, temples, and gardens, but the trade was small. Pirates still did business from the port, but on a reduced scale. Botero says that there were the remains of an immense city to be seen, and that the town still contained 5000 velvet-weavers (p. 104). Till the Mahrattas took Salsette in 1737, the Portuguese had many fine villas about Thana.

Polo's dislocation of geographical order here has misled Fra Mauro into placing Tana to the west of Guzerat, though he has a duplicate Tana nearer the correct position.

NOTE 2.--It has often been erroneously supposed that the frankincense (_olibanum_) of commerce, for which Bombay and the ports which preceded it in Western India have for centuries afforded the chief mart, was an Indian product. But Marco is not making that mistake; he calls the incense of Western India _brown_, evidently in contrast with the _white_ incense or olibanum, which he afterwards a.s.signs to its true locality (infra. ch.

x.x.xvii., x.x.xviii.). Nor is Marsden justified in a.s.suming that the brown incense of Tana must needs have been _Benzoin_ imported from Sumatra, though I observe Dr. Birdwood considers that the term _Indian Frankincense_ which occurs in Dioscorides must have _included_ Benzoin.

Dioscorides describes the so-called Indian Frankincense as _blackish_; and Garcia supposes the name merely to refer to the colour, as he says the Arabs often gave the name of Indian to things of a dark colour.

There seems to be no proof that Benzoin was known even to the older Arab writers. Western India supplies a variety of aromatic gum-resins, one of which was probably intended by our traveller:

I. BOSWELLIA THURIFERA of Colebrooke, whose description led to a general belief that this tree produced the Frankincense of commerce. The tree is found in Oudh and Rohilkhand, in Bahar, Central India, Khandesh, and Kattiawar, etc. The gum-resin is used and sold locally as an incense, but is soft and sticky, and is _not_ the olibanum of commerce; nor is it collected for exportation.

The Coromandel _Boswellia glabra_ of Roxburgh is now included (see Dr.

Birdwood's Monograph) as a variety under the _B. thurifera_. Its gum-resin is a good deal used as incense, in the Tamul regions, under the name of _Kundrikam_, with which is apparently connected _Kundur_, one of the Arabic words for _olibanum_ (see ch. x.x.xviii., note 2).

II. _Vateria Indica_ (Roxb.), producing a gum-resin which when recent is known as _Piney Varnish_, and when hardened, is sold for export under the names of _Indian Copal_, _White Dammar_, and others. Its northern limit of growth is North but the gum is exported from Bombay. The tree is the _Chloroxylon Dupada_ of Buchanan, and is, I imagine, the _Dupu_ or Incense Tree of Rheede. (_Hort. Malab._ IV.) The tree is a fine one, and forms beautiful avenues in Malabar and Canara. The Hindus use the resin as an incense, and in Malabar it is also made into candles which burn fragrantly and with little smoke. It is, or was, also used as pitch, and is probably the _thus_ with which Indian vessels, according to Joseph of Cranganore (in _Novus...o...b..s_), were payed. Garcia took it for the ancient _Cancamum_, but this Dr. Birdwood identifies with the next, viz.:--

III. _Gardenia lucida_ (Roxb.). It grows in the Konkan districts, producing a fragrant resin called _Dikamali_ in India, and by the Arabs _Kankham_.

IV. _Balsamodendron Mukul_, growing in Sind, Kattiawar and the Deesa District, and producing the Indian _Bdellium, Mukl_ of the Arabs and Persians, used as an incense and as a cordial medicine. It is believed to be the [Greek: Bdella] mentioned in the _Periplus_ as exported from the Indus, and also as brought down with _Costus_ through _Ozene_ (Ujjain) to _Barygaza_ (Baroch--see Muller's _Geog. Graec. Minor._ I. 287, 293). It is mentioned also (_Mukl_) by Albiruni as a special product of Kachh, and is probably the incense of that region alluded to by Hiuen Tsang. (See last chapter, note 3.) It is of a yellow, red, or brownish colour. (_Eng. Cyc._ art. _Bdellium_; _Dowson's Elliot_, I. 66; _Reinaud_ in _J. As._ ser. IV.

tom. iv. p. 263).

V. _Canarium strictum_ (Roxb.), of the Western Ghats, affording the _Black Dammar_ of Malabar, which when fresh is aromatic and yellow in colour. It abounds in the country adjoining Tana. The natives use it as incense, and call the tree _Dhup_ (incense) and _Gugul_ (Bdellum).

Besides these resinous substances, the _Costus_ of the Ancients may be mentioned (Sansk. _Kushth_), being still exported from Western India, as well as from Calcutta, to China, under the name of _Putchok_, to be burnt as incense in Chinese temples. Its ident.i.ty has been ascertained in our own day by Drs. Royle and Falconer, as the root of a plant which they called _Aucklandia Costus_. But the ident.i.ty of the _Pucho_ (which he gives as the Malay name) with Costus was known to Garcia. Alex. Hamilton, at the beginning of last century, calls it _Ligna Dulcis (sic)_, and speaks of it as an export from Sind, as did the author of the _Periplus_ 1600 years earlier.

My own impression is that _Mukl_ or _Bdellium_ was the brown incense of Polo, especially because we see from Albiruni that this was regarded as a staple export from neighbouring regions. But Dr. Birdwood considers that the Black Dammar of _Canarium strictum_ is in question. (_Report on Indian Gum-Resins_, by _Mr. Dalzell_ of Bot. Gard. Bombay, 1866; _Birdwood's Bombay Products_, 2nd ed. pp. 282, 287, etc.; _Drury's Useful Plants of India_, 2nd ed.; _Garcia; A. Hamilton_, I. 127; _Eng. Cyc._, art.

_Putchuk; Buchanan's Journey_, II. 44, 335, etc.)

CHAPTER XXVIII.

CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF CAMBAET.

Cambaet is a great kingdom lying further west. The people are Idolaters, and have a language of their own, and a king of their own, and are tributary to n.o.body.[NOTE 1]

The North Star is here still more clearly visible; and henceforward the further you go west the higher you see it.

There is a great deal of trade in this country. It produces indigo in great abundance; and they also make much fine buckram. There is also a quant.i.ty of cotton which is exported hence to many quarters; and there is a great trade in hides, which are very well dressed; with many other kinds of merchandize too tedious to mention. Merchants come here with many ships and cargoes, but what they chiefly bring is gold, silver, copper [and tutia].

There are no pirates from this country; the inhabitants are good people, and live by their trade and manufactures.