The Travels of Marco Polo Volume I Part 57

s. vol. ii. 355.) But a note by Colonel Pelly informs me that the name Shabankara is still applied (1) to the district round the towns of Runiz and Gauristan near Bandar Abbas; (2) to a village near Maiman, in the old country of the tribe; (3) to a _tribe_ and district of Dashtistan, 38 farsakhs west of Shiraz.

With reference to the form in the text, _Soncara_, I may notice that in two pa.s.sages of the _Masalak-ul-Absar_, translated by Quatremere, the name occurs as _Shankarah_. (_Q. R._ pp. 380, 440 seqq.; _N. et E._ XIII.; _Ilch._ I. 71 and _pa.s.sim; Ouseley's Travels_, II. 158 seqq.)

VIII. TuN-O-KaIN, the eastern Kuhistan or Hill country of Persia, of which Tun and Kain are chief cities. The practice of indicating a locality by combining two names in this way is common in the East. Elsewhere in this book we find _Ariora-Keshemur_ and _Kes-macoran_ (Kij-Makran). Upper Sind is often called in India by the Sepoys _Rori-Bakkar_, from two adjoining places on the Indus; whilst in former days, Lower Sind was often called _Diul-Sind. Karra-Manikpur, Uch-Multan, Kunduz-Baghlan_ are other examples.

The exact expression _Tun-o-Kain_ for the province here in question is used by Baber, and evidently also by some of Hammer's authorities.

(_Baber_, pp. 201, 204; see _Ilch._ II. 190; I. 95, 104, and _Hist. de l'Ordre des a.s.sa.s.sins_, p. 245.)

[We learn from (Sir) C. Macgregor's (1875) _Journey through Khorasan_ (I.

p. 127) that the same territory including Ghain or Kan is now called by the a.n.a.logous name of Tabas-o-Tun. Tun and Kan (Ghain) are both described in their modern state, by Macgregor. (Ibid. pp. 147 and 161.)--H. C.]

Note that the identification of _Suolstan_ is due to Quatremere (see _N.

et E._ XIII. i. circa p. 332); that of _Soncara_ to Defremery (_J. As._ ser. IV. tom. xi. p. 441); and that of _Tunocain_ to Malte-Brun. (_N. Ann.

des V._ xviii. p. 261.) I may add that the _Lurs_, the _Shuls_, and the Shabankaras are the subjects of three successive sections in the _Masalak-al-Absar_ of _Shihabuddin Dimishki_, a work which reflects much of Polo's geography. (See _N. et E._ XIII. i. 330-333; Curzon, _Persia_, II.

pp. 248 and 251.)

NOTE 2.--The horses exported to India, of which we shall hear more hereafter, were probably the same cla.s.s of "Gulf Arabs" that are now carried thither. But the Turkman horses of Persia are also very valuable, especially for endurance. Kinneir speaks of one accomplishing 900 miles in eleven days, and Ferrier states a still more extraordinary feat from his own knowledge. In that case one of those horses went from Tehran to Tabriz, returned, and went again to Tabriz, within twelve days, including two days' rest. The total distance is about 1100 miles.

The _livre tournois_ at this period was equivalent to a little over 18 francs of modern French silver. But in bringing the value to our modern gold standard we must add one-third, as the ratio of silver to gold was then 1:12 instead of 1:16. Hence the equivalent in gold of the livre tournois is very little less than 1_l._ sterling, and the price of the horse would be about 193_l._[1]

Mr. Wright quotes an ordinance of Philip III. of France (1270-1285) fixing the maximum price that might be given for a palfrey at 60 _livres tournois_, and for a squire's _roncin_ at 20 livres. Joinville, however, speaks of a couple of horses presented to St. Lewis in 1254 by the Abbot of Cluny, which he says would at the time of his writing (1309) have been worth 500 livres (the pair, it would seem). Hence it may be concluded in a general way that the _ordinary_ price of imported horses in India approached that of the highest cla.s.s of horses in Europe. (_Hist. of Dom.

Manners_, p. 317; _Joinville_, p. 205.)

About 1850 a very fair Arab could be purchased in Bombay for 60_l._, or even less; but prices are much higher now.

With regard to the donkeys, according to Tavernier, the fine ones used by merchants in Persia were imported from Arabia. The mark of silver was equivalent to about 44_s._ of our silver money, and allowing as before for the lower relative value of gold, 30 marks would be equivalent to 88_l._ sterling.

_Kisi_ or Kish we have already heard of. _Curmosa_ is Hormuz, of which we shall hear more. With a Pisan, as Rusticiano was, the sound of _c_ is purely and strongly aspirate. Giovanni d'Empoli, in the beginning of the 16th century, another Tuscan, also calls it _Cormus_. (See _Archiv. Stor.

Ital._ Append. III. 81.)

NOTE 3.--The character of the nomad and semi-nomad tribes of Persia in those days--Kurds, Lurs, Shuls, Karaunahs, etc.--probably deserved all that Polo says, and it is not changed now. Take as an example Rawlinson's account of the Bakhtyaris of Luristan: "I believe them to be individually brave, but of a cruel and savage character; they pursue their blood feuds with the most inveterate and exterminating spirit.... It is proverbial in Persia that the Bakhtiyaris have been compelled to forego altogether the reading of the _Fatihah_ or prayer for the dead, for otherwise they would have no other occupation. They are also most dextrous and notorious thieves." (_J. R. G. S._ IX. 105.)

NOTE 4.--The Persians have always been lax in regard to the abstinence from wine.

According to Athenaeus, Aristotle, in his _Treatise on Drinking_ (a work lost, I imagine, to posterity), says, "If the wine be moderately boiled it is less apt to intoxicate." In the preparation of some of the sweet wines of the Levant, such as that of Cyprus, the must is boiled, but I believe this is not the case _generally_ in the East. Baber notices it as a peculiarity among the Kafirs of the Hindu Kush. Tavernier, however, says that at Shiraz, besides the wine for which that city was so celebrated, a good deal of _boiled wine_ was manufactured, and used among the poor and by travellers. No doubt what is meant is the sweet liquor or syrup called _Dushab_, which Della Valle says is just the Italian _Mostocotto_, but better, clearer, and not so mawkish (I. 689). (_Yonge's Athen._ X. 34; _Baber_, p. 145; _Tavernier_, Bk. V. ch. xxi.)

[1] The _Encyc. Britann._, article "Money," gives the livre tournois of this period as 18.17 francs. A French paper in _Notes and Queries_ (4th S. IV. 485) gives it under St. Lewis and Philip III. as equivalent to 18.24 fr., and under Philip IV. to 17.95. And lastly, experiment at the British Museum, made by the kind intervention of my friend, Mr. E. Thomas, F.R.S., gave the weights of the _sols_ of St.

Lewis (1226-1270) and Philip IV. (1285-1314) respectively as 63 grains and 61-1/2 grains of remarkably pure silver. These trials would give the _livres_ (20 sols) as equivalent to 18.14 fr. and 17.70 fr.

respectively.

CHAPTER XVI.

CONCERNING THE GREAT CITY OF YASDI.

Yasdi also is properly in Persia; it is a good and n.o.ble city, and has a great amount of trade. They weave there quant.i.ties of a certain silk tissue known as _Yasdi_, which merchants carry into many quarters to dispose of. The people are worshippers of Mahommet.[NOTE 1]

When you leave this city to travel further, you ride for seven days over great plains, finding harbour to receive you at three places only. There are many fine woods [producing dates] upon the way, such as one can easily ride through; and in them there is great sport to be had in hunting and hawking, there being partridges and quails and abundance of other game, so that the merchants who pa.s.s that way have plenty of diversion. There are also wild a.s.ses, handsome creatures. At the end of those seven marches over the plain you come to a fine kingdom which is called Kerman.[NOTE 2]

NOTE 1.--YEZD, an ancient city, supposed by D'Anville to be the _Isatichae_ of Ptolemy, is not called by Marco a kingdom, though having a better t.i.tle to the distinction than some which he cla.s.ses as such. The atabegs of Yezd dated from the middle of the 11th century, and their Dynasty was permitted by the Mongols to continue till the end of the 13th, when it was extinguished by Ghazan, and the administration made over to the Mongol Diwan.

Yezd, in pre-Mahomedan times, was a great sanctuary of the Gueber worship, though now it is a seat of fanatical Mahomedanism. It is, however, one of the few places where the old religion lingers. In 1859 there were reckoned 850 families of Guebers in Yezd and fifteen adjoining villages, but they diminish rapidly.

[Heyd (_Com. du Levant_, II. p. 109) says the inhabitants of Yezd wove the finest silk of Taberistan.--H. C.] The silk manufactures still continue, and, with other weaving, employ a large part of the population. The _Yazdi_, which Polo mentions, finds a place in the Persian dictionaries, and is spoken of by D'Herbelot as _k.u.mash-i-Yezdi_, "Yezd stuff." ["He [Nadir Shah] bestowed upon the amba.s.sador [Hakeem Ataleek, the prime minister of Abulfiez Khan, King of Bokhara] a donation of a thousand mohurs of Hindostan, twenty-five pieces of _Yezdy_ brocade, a rich dress, and a horse with silver harness...." (_Memoirs of Khojah Abdulkurreem, a Cashmerian of distinction ... transl. from the original Persian_, by Francis Gladwin ... Calcutta, 1788, 8vo, p. 36.)--H. C.]

Yezd is still a place of important trade, and carries on a thriving commerce with India by Bandar Abbasi. A visitor in the end of 1865 says: "The external trade appears to be very considerable, and the merchants of Yezd are reputed to be amongst the most enterprising and respectable of their cla.s.s in Persia. Some of their agents have lately gone, not only to Bombay, but to the Mauritius, Java, and China."

(_Ilch._ I. 67-68; _Khanikoff, Mem._ p. 202; _Report by Major R. M.

Smith_, R.E.)

Friar Odoric, who visited Yezd, calls it the third best city of the Persian Emperor, and says (_Cathay_, I. p. 52): "There is very great store of victuals and all other good things that you can mention; but especially is found there great plenty of figs; and raisins also, green as gra.s.s and very small, are found there in richer profusion than in any other part of the world." [He also gives from the smaller version of Ramusio's an awful description of the Sea of Sand, one day distant from Yezd. (Cf. Tavernier, 1679, I. p. 116.)--H. C.]

NOTE 2.--I believe Della Valle correctly generalises when he says of Persian travelling that "you always travel in a plain, but you always have mountains on either hand" (I. 462). [Compare Macgregor, I. 254: "I really cannot describe the road. Every road in Persia as yet seems to me to be exactly alike, so ... my readers will take it for granted that the road went over a waste, with barren rugged hills in the distance, or near; no water, no houses, no people pa.s.sed."--H. C.] The distance from Yezd to Kerman is, according to Khanikoff's survey, 314 _kilometres_, or about 195 miles. Ramusio makes the time eight days, which is probably the better reading, giving a little over 24 miles a day. Westergaard in 1844, and Khanikoff in 1859, took _ten_ days; Colonel Goldsmid and Major Smith in 1865 _twelve_. ["The distance from Yezd to Kerman by the present high road, 229 miles, is by caravans, generally made in nine stages; persons travelling with all comforts do it in twelve stages; travellers whose time is of some value do it easily in _seven_ days." (_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c.

pp. 490-491.)--H. C.]

Khanikoff observes on this chapter: "This notice of woods easy to ride through, covering the plain of Yezd, is very curious. Now you find it a plain of great extent indeed from N.W. to S.E., but narrow and arid; indeed I saw in it only thirteen inhabited spots, counting two caravanserais. Water for the inhabitants is brought from a great distance by subterraneous conduits, a practice which may have tended to desiccate the soil, for every trace of wood has completely disappeared."

Abbott travelled from Yezd to Kerman in 1849, by a road through Bafk, _east_ of the usual road, which Khanikoff followed, and parallel to it; and it is worthy of note that he found circ.u.mstances more accordant with Marco's description. Before getting to Bafk he says of the plain that it "extends to a great distance north and south, and is probably 20 miles in breadth;" whilst Bafk "is remarkable for its _groves of date-trees_, in the midst of which it stands, and which occupy a considerable s.p.a.ce."

Further on he speaks of "wild tufts and bushes growing abundantly," and then of "thickets of the _Ghez_ tree." He heard of the wild a.s.ses, but did not see any. In his report to the Foreign Office, alluding to Marco Polo's account, he says: "It is still true that wild a.s.ses and other game are found in the _wooded spots_ on the road." The a.s.s is the _Asinus Onager_, the _Gor Khar_ of Persia, or _Kulan_ of the Tartars. (_Khan. Mem._ p. 200; Id. _sur Marco Polo_, p. 21; _J. R. G. S._ XXV. 20-29; _Mr. Abbott's MS.

Report in Foreign office_.) [The difficulty has now been explained by General Houtum-Schindler in a valuable paper published in the _Jour. Roy.

As. Soc._ N.S. XIII., October, 1881, p. 490. He says: "Marco Polo travelled from Yazd to Kerman via Bafk. His description of the road, seven days over great plains, harbour at three places only, is perfectly exact.

The fine woods, producing dates, are at Bafk itself. (The place is generally called Baft.) Partridges and quails still abound; wild a.s.ses I saw several on the western road, and I was told that there were a great many on the Bafk road. Travellers and caravans now always go by the eastern road via Anar and Bahramabad. Before the Sefaviehs (i.e. before A.D. 1500) the Anar road was hardly, if ever, used; travellers always took the Bafk road. The country from Yazd to Anar, 97 miles, seems to have been totally uninhabited before the Sefaviehs. Anar, as late as A.D. 1340, is mentioned as the frontier place of Kerman to the north, on the confines of the Yazd desert. When Shah Abbas had caravanserais built at three places between Yazd and Anar (Zein ud-din, Kerman-shahan, and Shamsh), the eastern road began to be neglected." (Cf. Major Sykes' _Persia_, ch.

xxiii.)--H. C.]

CHAPTER XVII.

CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF KERMAN.

Kerman is a kingdom which is also properly in Persia, and formerly it had a hereditary prince. Since the Tartars conquered the country the rule is no longer hereditary, but the Tartar sends to administer whatever lord he pleases.[NOTE 1] In this kingdom are produced the stones called turquoises in great abundance; they are found in the mountains, where they are extracted from the rocks.[NOTE 2] There are also plenty of veins of steel and _Ondanique_.[NOTE 3] The people are very skilful in making harness of war; their saddles, bridles, spurs, swords, bows, quivers, and arms of every kind, are very well made indeed according to the fashion of those parts. The ladies of the country and their daughters also produce exquisite needlework in the embroidery of silk stuffs in different colours, with figures of beasts and birds, trees and flowers, and a variety of other patterns. They work hangings for the use of n.o.blemen so deftly that they are marvels to see, as well as cushions, pillows quilts, and all sorts of things.[NOTE 4]

In the mountains of Kerman are found the best falcons in the world. They are inferior in size to the Peregrine, red on the breast, under the neck, and between the thighs; their flight so swift that no bird can escape them.[NOTE 5]

On quitting the city you ride on for seven days, always finding towns, villages, and handsome dwelling-houses, so that it is very pleasant travelling; and there is excellent sport also to be had by the way in hunting and hawking. When you have ridden those seven days over a plain country, you come to a great mountain; and when you have got to the top of the pa.s.s you find a great descent which occupies some two days to go down.

All along you find a variety and abundance of fruits; and in former days there were plenty of inhabited places on the road, but now there are none; and you meet with only a few people looking after their cattle at pasture.

From the city of Kerman to this descent the cold in winter is so great that you can scarcely abide it, even with a great quant.i.ty of clothing.[NOTE 6]

NOTE 1.--Kerman is mentioned by Ptolemy, and also by Ammia.n.u.s amongst the cities of the country so called (_Carmania_): "_inter quas nitet_ Carmana _omnium mater_." (XXIII. 6.)

M. Pauthier's supposition that _Sirjan_ was in Polo's time the capital, is incorrect. (See _N. et E._ XIV. 208, 290.) Our Author's Kerman is the city still so called; and its proper name would seem to have been _Kuwashir_.