Latest / The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 1 / 022 - Book First Chapters 16 to 18 Concerning the great city of Yasdi Concerning the kingdom of Kerman Of

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022 - Book First Chapters 16 to 18 Concerning the great city of Yasdi Concerning the kingdom of Kerman Of · The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 1

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty two of the Book of Sir Marco Polo,
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  Speaker 1: the Venetian concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East,
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  Speaker 1: Volume one. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or a volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Lynn Thompson. The
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  Speaker 1: Book of Sir Marco Polo, the Venetian concerning the Kingdoms
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  Speaker 1: and Marvels of the East, Volume one by Rusticallo da Pisa,
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  Speaker 1: translated by Henry Yule, Book first chapter sixteen concerning the
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  Speaker 1: great city of Yasdi. Yazdi also is properly in Persia.
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  Speaker 1: It is a good and noble city, and has a
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  Speaker 1: great amount of trade. They weave their quantities of a
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  Speaker 1: certain silk tissue known as Yazdi, which merchants carry into
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  Speaker 1: many quarters to dispose of. The people are worshipers of Muhammet.
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  Speaker 1: When you leave this city to travel further, you ride
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  Speaker 1: for seven days over great plains, finding harbour to receive
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  Speaker 1: you at three places. Only. There are many fine woods
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  Speaker 1: producing dates upon the way, such as one can easily
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  Speaker 1: ride through, and in them there is great sport to
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  Speaker 1: be had. In hunting and hawking, there being partridges and quails,
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  Speaker 1: and abundance of other game, so that the merchants who
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  Speaker 1: pass that way have plenty of diversion. There are also
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  Speaker 1: wild asses handsome creatures. At the end of those seven
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  Speaker 1: marches over the plain you come to a fine kingdom
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  Speaker 1: which is called Kerman. Book first chapter seventeen, concerning the
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  Speaker 1: Kingdom of Kerman. Kerman is a kingdom which is also
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  Speaker 1: properly in Persia, and formerly it has a hereditary prince.
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  Speaker 1: Since the Tatars conquered the country, the rule is no
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  Speaker 1: longer hereditary, but the Tatar sends to administer whatever lord
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  Speaker 1: he pleases. In the kingdom are produced the stones called
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  Speaker 1: turquoises in great abundance. They are found in the mountains,
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  Speaker 1: where they are extracted from the rocks. There are also
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  Speaker 1: plenty of veins of steel and underneak. The people are
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  Speaker 1: very skillful in making harness of war. Their saddles, bridles, spurs, swords, bows,
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  Speaker 1: quivers and arms of every kind are very well made,
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  Speaker 1: indeed according to the fashion of those parts. The ladies
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  Speaker 1: of the country and their daughters also produce exquisite needlework
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  Speaker 1: in the embroidery of silk stuffs in different colours, with
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  Speaker 1: figures of beasts and birds, trees and flowers, and a
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  Speaker 1: variety of other patterns. They work hangings for the use
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  Speaker 1: of noblemen so deftly that they are marvels to see,
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  Speaker 1: as well as cushions, pillows, quilts and all sorts of things.
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  Speaker 1: In the mountains of Kermen are found the best falcons
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  Speaker 1: in the world. They are inferior in size to the peregrine,
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  Speaker 1: red on the breast, under the neck and between the thighs,
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  Speaker 1: their flights so swift that no bird can escape them.
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  Speaker 1: On quitting the city, you ride on for seven days,
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  Speaker 1: always finding towns, villages and handsome dwelling houses, so that
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  Speaker 1: it is very pleasant traveling, and there is excellent sport
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  Speaker 1: also to be had by the way of hunting and hawking.
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  Speaker 1: When you have ridden those seven days over a plain country,
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  Speaker 1: you come to a great mountain, and when you have
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  Speaker 1: got to the top of the pass you find a
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  Speaker 1: great descent, which occupies some two days to go down.
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  Speaker 1: All along you find a variety and abundance of fruits,
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  Speaker 1: and in former days there were plenty of inhabited places
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  Speaker 1: on the road, but now there are none and you
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  Speaker 1: meet with only a few people looking after their cattle
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  Speaker 1: at pasture. From the city of Kerman to this descent.
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  Speaker 1: The cold in winter is so great that you can
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  Speaker 1: scarcely abide it, even with a great quantity of clothing.
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  Speaker 1: Book first chapter eighteen of the City of Cammadi and
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  Speaker 1: its Ruins, also touching the Corona Robbers. After you have
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  Speaker 1: ridden downhill those two days, you find yourself in a
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  Speaker 1: vast plain, and at the beginning thereof there is a
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  Speaker 1: city called Caermadi, which formerly was a great and noble place,
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  Speaker 1: but now is of little consequence, for the Tatars, in
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  Speaker 1: their incursions, have several times ravaged it. The plain whereof
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  Speaker 1: I speak is a very hot region, and the province
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  Speaker 1: that we now enter is called Rio Balles. The fruits
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  Speaker 1: of the country are dates, pistachios, and apples paradise, with
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  Speaker 1: others of the like not found in our cold climate.
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  Speaker 1: There are vast numbers of turtle doves, attracted by the
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  Speaker 1: abundance of fruits, but the Saracens never take them, for
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  Speaker 1: they hold them in abomination. And on this plain there
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  Speaker 1: is a kind of bird called francolin, but different from
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  Speaker 1: the francolin of other countries, for their color is a
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  Speaker 1: mixture of black and white, and the feet and beak
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  Speaker 1: of a million color. The beasts also are peculiar, and
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  Speaker 1: first I will tell you of their oxen. These are
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  Speaker 1: very large and all over white as snow. The hair
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  Speaker 1: is very short and smooth, which is owing to the
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  Speaker 1: heat of the country. The horns are short and thick,
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  Speaker 1: not sharp in the point, and between the shoulders they
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  Speaker 1: have a round hump some two palms high. There are
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  Speaker 1: no handsomer creatures in the world. And when they have
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  Speaker 1: to be loaded, they kneel like the camel. Once the
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  Speaker 1: load is adjusted, they rise. Their load is a heavy one,
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  Speaker 1: for they are very strong animals. Then there are sheep
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  Speaker 1: here as big as asses, and their tails are so
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  Speaker 1: large and fat that one tail shall weigh some thirty pounds.
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  Speaker 1: They are fine fat beasts and afford capital mutton. In
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  Speaker 1: this place there are a number of villages and towns
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  Speaker 1: which have lost the walls of mud made as a
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  Speaker 1: defense against the Banditti, who are very numerous and are
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  Speaker 1: called carrionas this name is given them because they are
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  Speaker 1: the sons of Indian mothers by Tartar fathers. And you
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  Speaker 1: must know that when these carrionas wish to make a
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  Speaker 1: plundering incursion. They have certain devilish enchantments, whereby they do
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  Speaker 1: bring darkness over the face of day, insomuch that you
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  Speaker 1: can scarcely discern your comrade riding beside you. And this
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  Speaker 1: darkness they will cause to extend over a space of
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  Speaker 1: seven day's journey. They know the country thoroughly and ride abreast,
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  Speaker 1: keeping near one another's, sometimes to the number of ten thousand,
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  Speaker 1: are others more or fewer. In this way, they extend
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  Speaker 1: across the whole plain that they are going to harry
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  Speaker 1: and catch every living thing that is found outside of
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  Speaker 1: the towns and villages, man, woman or beast. Nothing can
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  Speaker 1: escape them. The old men whom they take in this
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  Speaker 1: way they butcher, the young men, and the women they
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  Speaker 1: sell for slaves in other countries. Thus the whole land
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  Speaker 1: is ruined and has become well nigh a desert. The
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  Speaker 1: king of these scoundrels is called Nagoda. This Nagoda has
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  Speaker 1: gone to the court of Chagatai, who was own brother
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  Speaker 1: to the Great Khan, with some ten thousand horsemen of
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  Speaker 1: his and abode with him. For Chagatai was his uncle
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  Speaker 1: and Whilst there this Nagoda devise the most audacious enterprise,
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  Speaker 1: and I will tell you what it was. He left
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  Speaker 1: his uncle, who was then in Greater Armenia, and fled
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  Speaker 1: with a great body of horsemen, cruel unscrupulous fellows, first
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  Speaker 1: through Badashan, and then through another province called pasha Idir,
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  Speaker 1: and then through another called Ariora Keshemur. There he lost
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  Speaker 1: a great number of his people and of his horses,
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  Speaker 1: for the roads were very narrow and perilous. And when
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  Speaker 1: he had conquered all those provinces, he entered India at
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  Speaker 1: the extremity of a province called Dalivar. He established himself
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  Speaker 1: in that city and government, which he took from the
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  Speaker 1: king of the country Asadin Suldan by name, a man
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  Speaker 1: of great power and wealth. And there Abideth Nogoda with
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  Speaker 1: his army, afraid of nobody, and waging war with all
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  Speaker 1: the Tartars in his neighborhood. Now that I have told
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  Speaker 1: you of those scoundrels and their history, I must add
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  Speaker 1: the fact that Messa Marcho himself was all but caught
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  Speaker 1: by their bands in such a darkness as that I
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  Speaker 1: have told you of. But as it pleased God. He
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  Speaker 1: got off and threw himself into a village that was
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  Speaker 1: hard by, called Conall Salmi. Howbeit he lost his whole
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  Speaker 1: company except seven persons who escaped along with him. The
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  Speaker 1: rest were caught, and some of them sold, some put
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  Speaker 1: to death. End of Section twenty two.