The Travels of Marco Polo Volume II Part 170

Prof. E.H. PARKER writes in the _Journal of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Soc._, x.x.xVII., 1906, p. 196: "Regarding the Fandaraina country of the Arabs mentioned by Yule in the Notes to pages 386, 391, and 440 of Vol. II., it may be interesting to cite the following important extract from Chapter 94, page 29, of the _Yuan Sh_:--'In 1295 sea-traders were forbidden to take fine values to trade with the three foreign states of Ma-pa-r; Pei nan, and Fan-ta-la-i-na, but 2,500,000 nominal taels in paper money were set apart for the purpose.'"

XXV., p. 391.

In the _Yuen Shi_, ch. 94, fol. 11 r'o, the "three barbarian kingdoms of _Ma-pa-eul_ (Ma'abar), _Pei-nan_ (corr. _Kiu-nam, Coilam_) and _Fan-ta-la-yi-na_" are mentioned. No doubt the last kingdom refers to the _Fandaraina_ of Ibn Batuta, and Prof. Pelliot, who gives me this information, believes it is also, in the middle of the fourteenth century, _Pan-ta-li_ of the _Tao yi chi lio_.

GOZURAT.

XXV., p. 393. "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."

Chau Ju-kwa has, p. 92: "The native products comprise great quant.i.ties of indigo, red kino, myrobolans and foreign cotton stuffs of every colour.

Every year these goods are transported to the Ta sh countries for sale."

x.x.xI., p. 404.

TWO ISLANDS CALLED MALE AND FEMALE.

Speaking of the fabulous countries of women, Chau Ju-kwa, p. 151, writes: "The women of this country [to the south-east (beyond Sha-hua kung?) Malaysia] conceive by exposing themselves naked to the full force of the south wind, and so give birth to female children."

"In the Western Sea there is also a country of women where only three females go to every five males; the country is governed by a queen, and all the civil offices are in the hands of women, whereas the men perform military duties. n.o.ble women have several males to wait upon them; but the men may not have female attendants. When a woman gives birth to a child, the latter takes its name from the mother. The climate is usually cold.

The chase with bow and arrows is their chief occupation. They carry on barter with Ta-t'sin and T'ien-chu, in which they make several hundred per cent. profit."

Cf. F. Hirth, _China and the Roman Orient_, pp. 200-202.

x.x.xII., pp. 406-7. Speaking of Scotra, Marco (II., p. 406) says: "The ambergris comes from the stomach of the whale, and as it is a great object of trade, the people contrive to take the whales with barbed iron darts, which, once they are fixed in the body, cannot come out again. A long cord is attached to this end, to that a small buoy which floats on the surface, so that when the whale dies they know where to find it. They then draw the body ash.o.r.e and extract the ambergris from the stomach and the oil from the head."

Chau Ju-kwa, at Chung-li (Somali Coast), has (p. 131): "Every year there are driven on the coast a great many dead fish measuring two hundred feet in length and twenty feet through the body. The people do not eat the flesh of these fish, but they cut out their brains, marrow, and eyes, from which they get oil, often as much as three hundred odd _tong_ (from a single fish). They mix this oil with lime to caulk their boats, and use it also in lamps. The poor people use the ribs of these fish to make rafters, the backbones for door leaves, and they cut off vertebrae to make mortars with."

SCOTRA.

x.x.xII., p. 407. "And you must know that in this island there are the best enchanters in the world. It is true that their Archbishop forbids the practice to the best of his ability; but 'tis all to no purpose, for they insist that their forefathers followed it, and so must they also. I will give you a sample of their enchantments. Thus, if a ship be sailing past with a fair wind and a strong, they will raise a contrary wind and compel her to turn back. In fact they make the wind blow as they list, and produce great tempests and disasters; and other such sorceries they perform, which it will be better to say nothing about in our Book."

Speaking of Chung-li (Somali Coast), Chau Ju-kwa writes, p. 130: "There are many sorcerers among them who are able to change themselves into birds, beasts, or aquatic animals, and by these means keep the ignorant people in a state of terror. If some of them in trading with some foreign ship have a quarrel, the sorcerers p.r.o.nounce a charm over the ship, so that it can neither go forward nor backward, and they only release the ship when it has settled the dispute. The government has formally forbidden this practice."

Hirth and Rockhill add, p. 132: "Friar Joanno dos Santos (A.D. 1597) says: 'In the Ile of Zanzibar dwelt one Chande, a great sorcerer, which caused his Pangayo, which the Factor had taken against his will, to stand still as it were in defiance of the Winde, till the Factor had satisfied him, and then to fly forth the River after her fellowes at his words. He made that a Portugall which had angered him, could never open his mouth to speake, but a c.o.c.ke crowed in his belly, till he had reconciled himselfe: with other like sorceries.'" See PURCHAS, _His Pilgrimes_, IX., 254.

"Not twenty years ago, Theo. Bent found that the Somalis were afraid of the witchcraft of the natives of Socotra. Theo. BENT, _Southern Arabia_, p. 361."

x.x.xIII., p. 412. Speaking of the bird Ruc at Madeigascar, Marco Polo says: "It is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air, and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces; having so killed him the bird gryphon swoops down on him and eats him at leisure."

Chau Ju-kwa writing of K'un lun ts'ong' ki, on the coast of Africa, writes, p. 149: "This country is in the sea to the south-west. It is adjacent to a large island. There are usually (there, i.e., on the great island) great _p'ong_ birds which so mask the sun in their flight that the shade on the sundial is shifted. If the great _p'ong_ finds a wild camel it swallows it, and if one should chance to find _p'ong's_ feather, he can make a water-b.u.t.t of it, after cutting off the hollow quill."

x.x.xIII., p. 421.

THE RUKH.

The Chinese traveller Chau Ju-kwa in his work _Chu-fan-ch_ on the Chinese and Arab trade in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, speaking of the country of Pi p'a lo (Berbera), says: "The country brings forth also the (so-called) 'camel crane', which measures from the ground to its crown from six to seven feet. It has wings and can fly, but not to any great height." The translators and commentators Hirth and Rockhill have (p. 129) the following notes: "Quotation from _Ling-wai-tai-ta_, 3, 6a. The ostrich was first made known to the Chinese in the beginning of the second century of our era, when some were brought to the court of China from Parthia. The Chinese then called them _An-si-tsio_ 'Parthian bird.' See _Hou Han Shu_, 88, and Hirth, _China and Roman Orient_, 39. In the _We shu_, 102, 12b, no name is given them, they are simply 'big birds which resemble a camel, which feed on herbs and flesh and are able to eat fire. In the _T'ang shu_, 221, 7a, it is said that this bird is commonly called 'camel-bird.'

It is seven feet high, black of colour, its feet like those of the camel, it can travel three hundred _li_ a day, and is able to eat iron. The ostrich is called by the Persians _ushturmurgh_ and by the Arabs _teir al-djamal_, both meaning 'camel birds.'"

Dr. Bretschneider in his Notes on _Chinese Mediaeval Travellers to the West_ (1875), p. 87, n. 132, has a long note with a figure from the _Pen ts'ao kang mu_ on the "camel-bird" (p. 88).

Cf. F. Hirth, _Die Lander des Islam_, Supp. Vol. V. of _T'oung Pao_, 1894, p. 54. Tsuboi k.u.mazo, _Actes XII'e Cong, Int. Orient.,_ Rome, 1899, II., p.

120.

x.x.xIII., p. 421.

GIRAFFES.

Speaking of Pi p'a lo (Berbera Coast) Chau Ju-kwa (p. 128) says: "There is also (in this country) a wild animal called _tsu-la;_ it resembles a camel in shape, an ox in size, and is of a yellow colour. Its fore legs are five feet long, its hind legs only three feet. Its head is high up and turned upwards. Its skin is an inch thick." Giraffe is the iranised form of the arabic _zurafa_. Mention is made of giraffes by Chinese authors at Aden and Mekka. Cf. FERRAND, _J. Asiatique_, July-August, 1918, pp. 155-158.

x.x.xIV., p. 422.

ZANGHIBAR.

We read in the _Tao i chi lio_: "This country [Ts'eng yao lo] is to the south-west of the Ta Shih (Arabs). There are no trees on the coast; most of the land is saline. The arable ground is poor, so there is but little grain of any kind, and they mostly raise yams to take its place.

"If any ship going there to trade carries rice as cargo, it makes very large profits.

"The climate is irregular. In their usages they have the rect.i.tude of olden times.

"Men and women twist up their hair; they wear a short seamless shirt. The occupation of the people is netting birds and beasts for food.

"They boil sea-water to make salt and ferment the juice of the sugar-cane to make spirits. They have a ruler.

"The native products comprise red sandal-wood, dark red sugar-cane, elephants' tusks, ambergris, native gold, _ya tsui tan-fan_, lit., 'duck-bill sulphate of copper.'

"The goods used in trading are ivory boxes, trade silver, coloured satins, and the like." (ROCKHILL, _T'oung Pao_, XVI., 1915, pp. 622-3.) Cf. CHAU JU-KWA, p. 126.

x.x.xIV., p. 423. "There is a great deal of trade, and many merchants and vessels go thither. But the staple trade of the Island is elephants'

teeth, which are very abundant; and they have also much ambergris, as whales are plentiful."

Chau Ju-kwa has, p. 126: "The products of the country [Ts'ong-pa] consist of elephants' tusks, native gold, ambergris and yellow sandal-wood."

x.x.xVI., p. 438.

ADEN.

In the _Ying yai sheng lan_ we read that "the kingdom (of A-tan) is on the sea-coast. It is rich and prosperous, the people follow the doctrine of the Moslims and their speech is Arabic. Their tempers are overbearing and violent. They have seven to eight thousand well-trained soldiers, horse and foot, whom the neighbouring countries fear." (W.W. ROCKHILL, _T'oung Pao_ XVI., 1915, p. 607.) There is a description of the giraffe under the name of _K'i lin_; it "has forelegs over nine feet long, its hind ones are about six feet. Beside its ears grow fleshy horns. It has a cow's tail and a deer's body. It eats millet, beans, and flour cakes" (p. 609). In the _Si Yang Chao kung tien lu_ (1520 A.D.), we have a similar description: "Its front legs are nine feet long, its hind legs six feet. Its hoofs have three clefts, it has a flat mouth. Two short fleshy horns rise from the back of the top of its head. It has a cow's tail and a deer's body. This animal is called _K'i lin_; it eats grain of any kind." (Ibid.) Cf.

FERRAND, J. _Asiatique,_ July-Aug., 1918, pp. 155-158.

x.x.xVI., p. 439.

At the time of Chau Ju-kwa, Aden was perhaps the most important port of Arabia for the African and Arabian trade with India and the countries beyond. It seems highly probable that the Ma-li-pa of the Chinese must be understood as including Aden, of which they make no mention whatsoever, but which was one of "the great commercial centres of the Arabs." HIRTH and ROCKHILL, p. 25 n.

x.x.xVI., pp. 442 seq.

THE CITY OF ESHER.

Shehr, a port on the Hadramaut coast, is mentioned by Chau Ju-kwa under the name of _Sh ho_ among the dependencies of the country of the _Ta-sh_ (Arabs.). (HIRTH and ROCKHILL, p. 116.)