The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 70

BUKA the Jelair, who had been a great chief under abaka, and had resentments against Ahmad, got up a conspiracy in favour of Arghun, and effected his release as well as the death of ALINAK, Ahmad's commander-in-chief. Ahmad fled towards Tabriz, pursued by a band of the Karaunas, who succeeded in taking him. When Arghun came near and saw his uncle in their hands, he called out in exultation _Morio!_--an exclamation, says Wa.s.saf, which the Mongols used when successful in archery,--and with a gesture gave the signal for the prisoner's death (10th August 1284).

Buka is of course the _Boga_ of Polo; Alinak is his _Soldan_. The conspirators along with Buka, who are named in the history of Wa.s.saf, are _Yesubuka_, _Gurgan_, _Aruk_, _Kurmishi_, and _Arkasun Noian_. Those named by Polo are not mentioned on this occasion, but the names are all Mongol.

TAGaJAR, ILCHIDAI, TUGHAN, SAMAGHAR, all appear in the Persian history of those times. Tagajar appears to have had the honour of a letter from the Pope (Nicolas IV.) in 1291, specially exhorting him to adopt the Christian faith; it was sent along with letters of like tenor addressed to Arghun, Ghazan, and other members of the imperial family. Tagajar is also mentioned by the continuator of Abulfaraj as engaged in the conspiracy to dethrone Kaikhatu. ULATAI was probably the same who went a few years later as Arghun's amba.s.sador to Cambaluc (see Prologue, ch. xvii.); and Polo may have heard the story from him on board ship.

(_a.s.sem._ III. pt. 2, 118; _Mosheim_, p. 80; _Ilchan._, pa.s.sim.)

Abulfaragius gives a fragment of a letter from Arghun to Kublai, reporting the deposition of Ahmad by the princes because he had "apostatized from the law of their fathers, and adopted that of the Arabs." (_a.s.semani_, _u.s._ p. 116.) The same historian says that Ahmad was kind and liberal to the Christians, though Hayton speaks differently.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Facsimile of the Letters sent to Philip the Fair King of France, by Arghun Khan in A.D. 1289 and by Oljaitu in A.D. 1305.]

NOTE 2.--Arghun obtained the throne on Ahmad's death, as just related, and soon after named his son Ghazan (born in 1271) to the Government of Khorasan, Mazanderan, k.u.mis, and Rei. Buka was made Chief Minister. The circ.u.mstances of Arghun's death have been noticed already (supra, p. 369).

CHAPTER XVIII.

HOW KIACATU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER ARGON'S DEATH.

And immediately on Argon's death, an uncle of his who was own brother[1]

to Abaga his father, seized the throne, as he found it easy to do owing to Casan's being so far away as the _Arbre Sec_. When Casan heard of his father's death he was in great tribulation, and still more when he heard of KIACATU'S seizing the throne. He could not then venture to leave the frontier for fear of his enemies, but he vowed that when time and place should suit he would go and take as great vengeance as his father had taken on Acomat. And what shall I tell you? Kiacatu continued to rule, and all obeyed him except such as were along with Casan. Kiacatu took the wife of Argon for his own, and was always dallying with women, for he was a great lechour. He held the throne for two years, and at the end of those two years he died; for you must know he was poisoned.[NOTE 1]

NOTE 1.--KaIKHATu, of whom we heard in the Prologue (vol. i. p. 35), was the brother, not the uncle, of Arghun. On the death of the latter there were three claimants, viz., his son Ghazan, his brother Kaikhatu, and his cousin Baidu, the son of Tarakai, one of Hulaku's sons. The party of Kaikhatu was strongest, and he was raised to the throne at Akhlath, 23rd July 1291. He took as wives out of the Royal Tents of Arghun the Ladies Bulughan (the 2nd, not her named in the Prologue) and Uruk. All the writers speak of Kaikhatu's character in the same way. Hayton calls him "a man without law or faith, of no valour or experience in arms, but altogether given up to lechery and vice, living like a brute beast, glutting all his disordered appet.i.tes; for his dissolute life hated by his own people, and lightly regarded by foreigners." (_Ram._ II. ch. xxiv.) The continuator of Abulfaraj, and Abulfeda in his Annals, speak in like terms. (_a.s.sem._ III. Pt. 2nd, 119-120; _Reiske_, _Ann. Abulf._ III. 101.)

Baidu rose against him; most of his chiefs abandoned him, and he was put to death in March-April, 1295. He reigned therefore nearly four years, not _two_ as the text says.

[1] _Frer carnaus_ (I. p. 187).

CHAPTER XIX.

HOW BAIDU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER THE DEATH OF KIACATU.

When Kiacatu was dead, BAIDU, who was his uncle, and was a Christian, seized the throne.[NOTE 1] This was in the year 1294 of Christ's Incarnation. So Baidu held the government, and all obeyed him, except only those who were with Casan.

And when Casan heard that Kiacatu was dead, and Baidu had seized the throne, he was in great vexation, especially as he had not been able to take his vengeance on Kiacatu. As for Baidu, Casan swore that he would take such vengeance on him that all the world should speak thereof; and he said to himself that he would tarry no longer, but would go at once against Baidu and make an end of him. So he addressed all his people, and then set out to get possession of his throne.

And when Baidu had intelligence thereof he a.s.sembled a great army and got ready, and marched ten days to meet him, and then pitched his camp, and awaited the advance of Casan to attack him; meanwhile addressing many prayers and exhortations to his own people. He had not been halted two days when Casan with all his followers arrived. And that very day a fierce battle began. But Baidu was not fit to stand long against Casan, and all the less that soon after the action began many of his troops abandoned him and took sides with Casan. Thus Baidu was discomfited and put to death, and Casan remained victor and master of all. For as soon as he had won the battle and put Baidu to death, he proceeded to the capital and took possession of the government; and all the Barons performed homage and obeyed him as their liege lord. Casan began to reign in the year 1294 of the Incarnation of Christ.

Thus then you have had the whole history from Abaga to Casan, and I should tell you that Alau, the conqueror of Baudac, and the brother of the Great Kaan Cublay, was the progenitor of all those I have mentioned. For he was the father of Abaga, and Abaga was the father of Argon, and Argon was the father of Casan who now reigns.[NOTE 2]

Now as we have told you all about the Tartars of the Levant, we will quit them and go back and tell you more about Great Turkey--But in good sooth we _have_ told you all about Great Turkey and the history of Caidu, and there is really no more to tell. So we will go on and tell you of the Provinces and nations in the far North.

NOTE 1.--The Christian writers often ascribe Christianity to various princes of the Mongol dynasties without any good grounds. Certain coins of the Ilkhans of Persia, up to the time of Ghazan's conversion to Islam, exhibit sometimes Mahomedan and sometimes Christian formulae, but this is no indication of the religion of the prince. Thus coins not merely of the heathen Khans Abaka and Arghun, but of Ahmad Tigudar, the fanatical Moslem, are found inscribed "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." Raynaldus, under 1285, gives a fragment of a letter addressed by Arghun to the European Powers, and dated from Tabriz, "in the year of the c.o.c.k," which begins "_In Christi Nomen, Amen!_" But just in like manner some of the coins of Norman kings of Sicily are said to bear the Mahomedan profession of faith; and the copper money of some of the Ghaznevide sultans bears the pagan effigy of the bull _Nandi_, borrowed from the coinage of the Hindu kings of Kabul.

The European Princes could not get over the belief that the Mongols were necessarily the inveterate enemies of Mahomedanism and all its professors.

Though Ghazan was professedly a zealous Mussulman, we find King James of Aragon, in 1300, offering _Ca.s.san Rey del Mogol_ amity and alliance with much abuse of the infidel Saracens; and the same feeling is strongly expressed in a letter of Edward II. of England to the "Emperor of the Tartars," which apparently was meant for Oljaitu, the successor of Ghazan.

(_Fraehn de Ilchan. Nummis_, vi. and _pa.s.sim_; _Raynald._ III. 619; _J.A.S.B._ XXIV. 490; _Kington's Frederick II._ I. 396; _Capmany_, _Antiguos Tratados_, etc. p. 107; _Rymer_, 2d Ed. III. 34; see also p. 20.)

There are other a.s.sertions, besides our author's, that Baidu professed Christianity. Hayton says so, and a.s.serts that he prohibited Mahomedan proselytism among the Tartars. The continuator of Abulfaraj says that Baidu's long acquaintance with the Greek _Despina Khatun_, the wife of abaka, had made him favourable to Christians, so that he willingly allowed a church to be carried about with the camp, and bells to be struck therein, but he never openly professed Christianity. In fact at this time the whole body of Mongols in Persia was pa.s.sing over to Islam, and Baidu also, to please them, adopted Mahomedan practices. But he would only employ Christians as Ministers of State. His rival Ghazan, on the other hand, strengthened his own influence by adopting Islam, Baidu's followers fell off from him, and delivered him into Ghazan's power. He was put to death 4th of October, 1295, about seven months after the death of his predecessor. D'Ohsson's authorities seem to mention no battle such as the text speaks of, but Mirkhond, as abridged by Teixeira, does so, and puts it at Nakshiwan on the Araxes (p. 341).

NOTE 2.--Hayton testifies from his own knowledge to the remarkable personal beauty of Arghun, whilst he tells us that the son Ghazan was as notable for the reverse. After recounting with great enthusiasm instances which he had witnessed of the daring and energy of Ghazan, the Armenian author goes on, "And the most remarkable thing of all was that within a frame so small, and ugly almost to monstrosity, there should be a.s.sembled nearly all those high qualities which nature is wont to a.s.sociate with a form of symmetry and beauty. In fact among all his host of 200,000 Tartars you should scarcely find one of smaller stature or of uglier and meaner aspect than this Prince."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Tomb of Oljaitu Khan, the brother of Polo's "Casan" at Sultaniah. (From Fergusson.)]

Pachymeres says that Ghazan made Cyrus, Darius, and Alexander his patterns, and delighted to read of them. He was very fond of the mechanical arts; "no one surpa.s.sed him in making saddles, bridles, spurs, greaves, and helmets; he could hammer, st.i.tch, and polish, and in such occupations employed the hours of his leisure from war." The same author speaks of the purity and beauty of his coinage, and the excellence of his legislation.

Of the latter, so famous in the East, an account at length is given by D'Ohsson. (_Hayton_ in _Ramus._ II. ch. xxvi., _Pachym. Andron. Palaeol._ VI. 1; _D'Ohsson_, vol iv.)

Before finally quitting the "Tartars of the Levant," we give a representation of the finest work of architecture that they have left behind them, the tomb built for himself by Oljaitu (see on this page), or, as his Moslem name ran, Mahomed Khodabandah, in the city of Sultaniah, which he founded. Oljaitu was the brother and successor of Marco Polo's friend Ghazan, and died in 1316, eight years before our traveller.

CHAPTER XX.

CONCERNING KING CONCHI WHO RULES THE FAR NORTH.

You must know that in the far north there is a King called CONCHI. He is a Tartar, and all his people are Tartars, and they keep up the regular Tartar religion. A very brutish one it is, but they keep it up just the same as Chinghis Kaan and the proper Tartars did, so I will tell you something of it.

You must know then that they make them a G.o.d of felt, and call him NATIGAI; and they also make him a wife; and then they say that these two divinities are the G.o.ds of the Earth who protect their cattle and their corn and all their earthly goods. They pray to these figures, and when they are eating a good dinner they rub the mouths of their G.o.ds with the meat, and do many other stupid things.

The King is subject to no one, although he is of the Imperial lineage of Chinghis Kaan, and a near kinsman of the Great Kaan.[NOTE 1] This King has neither city nor castle; he and his people live always either in the wide plains or among great mountains and valleys. They subsist on the milk and flesh of their cattle, and have no corn. The King has a vast number of people, but he carries on no war with anybody, and his people live in great tranquillity. They have enormous numbers of cattle, camels, horses, oxen, sheep, and so forth.

You find in their country immense bears entirely white, and more than 20 palms in length. There are also large black foxes, wild a.s.ses, and abundance of sables; those creatures I mean from the skins of which they make those precious robes that cost 1000 bezants each. There are also vairs in abundance; and vast mult.i.tudes of the Pharaoh's rat, on which the people live all the summer time. Indeed they have plenty of all sorts of wild creatures, for the country they inhabit is very wild and trackless.

[NOTE 2]

And you must know that this King possesses one tract of country which is quite impa.s.sable for horses, for it abounds greatly in lakes and springs, and hence there is so much ice as well as mud and mire, that horses cannot travel over it. This difficult country is 13 days in extent, and at the end of every day's journey there is a post for the lodgement of the couriers who have to cross this tract. At each of these post-houses they keep some 40 dogs of great size, in fact not much smaller than donkeys, and these dogs draw the couriers over the day's journey from post-house to post-house, and I will tell you how. You see the ice and mire are so prevalent, that over this tract, which lies for those 13 days' journey in a great valley between two mountains, no horses (as I told you) can travel, nor can any wheeled carriage either. Wherefore they make sledges, which are carriages without wheels, and made so that they can run over the ice, and also over mire and mud without sinking too deep in it. Of these sledges indeed there are many in our own country, for 'tis just such that are used in winter for carrying hay and straw when there have been heavy rains and the country is deep in mire. On such a sledge then they lay a bear-skin on which the courier sits, and the sledge is drawn by six of those big dogs that I spoke of. The dogs have no driver, but go straight for the next post-house, drawing the sledge famously over ice and mire.

The keeper of the post-house however also gets on a sledge drawn by dogs, and guides the party by the best and shortest way. And when they arrive at the next station they find a new relay of dogs and sledges ready to take them on, whilst the old relay turns back; and thus they accomplish the whole journey across that region, always drawn by dogs.[NOTE 3]

The people who dwell in the valleys and mountains adjoining that tract of 13 days' journey are great huntsmen, and catch great numbers of precious little beasts which are sources of great profit to them. Such are the Sable, the Ermine, the Vair, the _Erculin_, the Black Fox, and many other creatures from the skins of which the most costly furs are prepared.

They use traps to take them, from which they can't escape.[NOTE 4] But in that region the cold is so great that all the dwellings of the people are underground, and underground they always live.[NOTE 5]

There is no more to say on this subject, so I shall proceed to tell you of a region in that quarter, in which there is perpetual darkness.

NOTE 1.--There are two KUWINJIS, or KAUNCHIS, as the name, from Polo's representation of it, probably ought to be written, mentioned in connection with the Northern Steppes, if indeed there has not been confusion about them; both are descendants of Juji, the eldest son of Chinghiz. One was the twelfth son of Shaibani, the 5th son of Juji.

Shaibani's Yurt was in Siberia, and his family seem to have become predominant in that quarter. Arghun, on his defeat by Ahmad (supra p.

470), was besought to seek shelter with Kaunchi. The other Kaunchi was the son of Sirtaktai, the son of Orda, the eldest son of Juji, and was, as well as his father and grandfather, chief of the White Horde, whose territory lay north-east of the Caspian. An emba.s.sy from this Kaunchi is mentioned as having come to the court of Kaikhatu at Siah-Kuh (north of Tabriz) with congratulations, in the summer of 1293. Polo may very possibly have seen the members of this emba.s.sy, and got some of his information from them. (See _Gold. Horde_, 149, 249; _Ilkhans_, I. 354, 403; II. 193, where Hammer writes the name of _Kandschi_.)

It is perhaps a trace of the lineage of the old rulers of Siberia that the old town of Tyuman in Western Siberia is still known to the Tartars as _Chinghiz Tora_, or the Fort of Chinghiz. (_Erman_, I. 310.)