Latest / The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 1 / 028 - Book First Chapters 40 to 44 Concerning the great province of Tangut Of the province of Camul Of the

Transcript

028 - Book First Chapters 40 to 44 Concerning the great province of Tangut Of the province of Camul Of the · The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 1

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Section twenty eight of the Book of Sir Marco Polo,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the Venetian concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Volume one. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information, are a volunteer,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Lynn Thompson. The
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Book of Sir Marco Polo, the Venetian concerning the Kingdoms
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and Marvels of the East, Volume one by Rusticaelo da Pisa,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: translated by Henry Yule, Section twenty eight, book first Chapters
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: forty to forty four, concerning the Great Province of Tangut,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: of the Province of Camu, of the Province of Chingintillas,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: of the Province of Supchu, of the City of Campichu.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Chapter forty concerning the Great Province of Tangut. After you
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: have traveled thirty days through the desert as I have described,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: you come to a city called Satu, lying between northeast
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and east. It belongs to the Great Khan and is
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: in a province called Tangut. The people are for the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: most parts Idolators, but there are also some Nestorian Christians
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: and some Saracens. The idolators have a peculiar language and
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: are no traders, but live by their agriculture. They have
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: a great many abbeys and ministers, full of Idols of
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: sundry fashions, to which they pay great honour and reverence,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: worshiping them and sacrificing to them with much ado. For example,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: such as have children, will feed up a sheep in
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: honour of the Idol, and that the new year are
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: on the day of the Idol's feast, they will take
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: their children and the sheep along with them into the
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: presence of the Idol with great ceremony. Then they will
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: have the sheep slaughtered and cooked, and again present it
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: before the Idol with like reverence, and leave it there
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: before him whilst they are reciting the offices of their
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: worship and their prayers for the Idol's blessing on their children.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: And if you will believe them, the idle feeds on
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the meat that is set before it. After these ceremonies,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: they take up the flesh and carry it home, and
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: call together all their kindred to eat it with them
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: in great festivity. The idol priests receiving for their portion
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the head feet, entrails, and skin with some part of
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: the meat. After they have eaten, they collect the bones
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: that are left and store them carefully in a hutch.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: And you must know that all the idolators in the
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: world burn their dead. And when they are going to
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: carry a body to the burning the kinsfolk build a
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: wooden house on the way to the spot and drape
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: it with cloths of silk and gold. When the body
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: is going past this building, they call a halt and
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: set before it wine and meat and other eatables. And
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: this they do with the assurance that the defunct will
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: be received with the like attentions in the other world.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: All the minstrel sea in the town goes playing before
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: the body, and when it reaches the burning place, the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: kinsfolk are prepared with figures cut out of parchment and
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: paper in the shape of men and horses and camels,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: and also with round pieces of paper like gold coins,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: and all these they burn along with the corpse, for
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: they say that in the other world the defunct will
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: be provided with slaves and cattle and money just in
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: proportion to the amount of such pieces of paper that
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: has been burnt along with him. But they never burn
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: their dead until they have sent for the astrologers and
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: told them the year, the day, and the hour of
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: the deceased person's birth. And when the astrologers have ascertained
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: under what consct, planet and sign he was born, they
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: declare the day on which, by the rules of their art,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: he ought to be burnt. Until that day arrive, they
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: keep the body so that it tis sometimes a matter
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: of six months more or less before it comes to
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: be burnt. Now, the way they keep the body in
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the house is this. They make a coffin first of
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: a good span in thickness, very carefully joined and daintily painted.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: This they fill up with camphor and spices to keep
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: off corruption, stopping the joints with pitch and line, and
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: then they cover it with a fine cloth. Every day,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: as long as the body is kept, they set a
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: table before the dead, covered with food, and they will
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: have it that the soul comes and eats and drinks.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Wherefore they leave the food there as long as would
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: be necessary, in order that one should partake. Thus they
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: do daily, And worse still, sometimes those soothsayers shall tell
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: them that tis not good luck to carry out the
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: corpse by the door, so they have to break a
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: hole in the wall, and to draw it out that
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: way when it is taken to the burning. And these
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I assure you are the practices of all the idolators
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: of those countries. However, we will quit this subject, and
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: I will tell you of another city which lies towards
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the northwest, at the extremity of the desert. Book first
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: chapter forty one of the province of Kamul. Kamul is
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: a province which in former days was a kingdom. It
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: contains numerous towns and villages, but the chief city bears
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: the name of Kamul. The province lies between the two deserts,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: for on the one side is the great desert of Lope,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: and on the other side is a small desert of
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: three days journey. In extent, the people are all idolators
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: and have peculiar language. They live by the fruits of
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: the earth, which they have in plenty and dispose of
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: to travelers. They are a people who take things very easily,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: for they mind nothing but playing and singing, and dancing
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: and enjoying themselves. And it is the truth that if
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: a foreigner comes to the house of one of these
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: people to lodge, the host is delighted, and desires his
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: wife to put herself entirely at the guest's disposal, whilst
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: he himself gets out of the way and comes back
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: no more until the stranger shall have taken his departure.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: The guests may stay and enjoy the wife's society as
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: long as he lists, while the husband has no shame
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: in the matter, but indeed considers it an honor. And
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: all the men of this province are made rittles of
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: by their wives. In this way, the women themselves are
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: fair and wanton. No, it came to pass during the
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: reign of Mangoo Khan, that as lord of this province,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: he came to hear of this custom, and he sent
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: forth an order commanding them, under grievous penalties, to do
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: so no more but to provide public hostelries for travelers.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: And when they heard this order, they were much vexed. Thereat.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: For about three year space they carried it out, But
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: then they found that their lands were no longer fruitful,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: and that many mishaps befell them. So they collected together
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and prepared a grand present, which they sent to their lord,
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: praying him graciously to let them retain the custom which
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: they had inherited from their ancestors. For it was by
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: reason of this usage that their gods bestowed upon them
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: all the good things that they possessed, and without it
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: they saw not how they could continue to exist. When
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: the Prince had heard their petition, his reply was, since
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: she must needs keep your shame, keep it then, and
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: so he left them at liberty to maintain their naughty custom.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: And they always have kept it up and do so still.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Now let us quit Kamul, and I will tell you
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: of another province which lies between northwest and north and
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: belongs to the Great Khan. Book first chapter forty two
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: of the Province of Chingin Talus. Chingin Talus is also
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: a province on the verge of the desert and lying
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: between northwest and north. It has an extent of sixteen
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: days journey and belongs to the Great Khan and contains
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: numerous towns and villages. There are three different traces of
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: people in it, Idolatas, Saracens, and some Nestorian Christians. At
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: the northern extremity of this province there is a mountain
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: in which are excellent veins of steel and underneak, and
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: you must know that in the same mountain there is
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: a vein of the substance from which salamander is made.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: For the real truth is that the salamander is no beast,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: as they allege in our part of the world, but
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: is a substance found in the earth, and I will
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: tell you about it. Everybody must be aware that it
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: can be no animal's nature to live in fire, seeing
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: that every animal is composed of all the four elements. Now,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: I Marco Polo had a Turkish acquaintance of the name
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: of Zufika, and he was a very clever fellow. And
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: this Turk related to Messer Marco Polo how he had
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: lived three years in that region on behalf of the
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Great Khan, in order to procure those salamanders for him.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: He said that the way they got them was by
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: digging in that mountain till they found a certain vein.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: The substance of this vein was then taken and crushed,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and when so treated, it divides as if it were
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: into fibers of wool, which they set forth to dry.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: When dry, these fibers were pounded in a great copper
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: mortar and then washed so as to remove all the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: earth and to leave only the fibers, like fibers of wool.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: These were then spun and made into napkins. When first made,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: these napkins are not very white, but by putting them
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: into the fire for a while, they come out as
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: white as snow. And so again, whenever they become dirty,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: they are bleached by putting them in the fire. Now
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: this and now telse is the truth about the salamander,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: and the people of the country all say the same.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Any other account is the matter of fabulous nonsense. And
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I may add that they have a rome a napkin
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: of this stuff, which the Grand Khan sent to the
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Pope to make a wrapper for the Holy pseudarium of
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. We will now quit this subject, and I
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: will proceed with my account of the countries lying in
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: the direction between northeast and east, Book first chapter forty
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: three of the Province of Sukchu. On leaving the province
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: of which I spoke before, you ride ten days between
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: northeast and east, and in all that way you find
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: no human dwelling, or next to none, so that there
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: is nothing for our book to speak of. At the
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: end of those ten days you come to another province
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: called Sutchu, in which there are numerous towns and villages.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: The chief city is called Suchu. The people are partly
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Christians and partly Idolatus, and are all subject to the
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Great Khan. The great general province to which all these
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: three provinces belong is called Tangut. Over all the mountains
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: of this province, rhubab is found in great abundance, and
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: thither merchants come to buy it and carry it. Thence
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: all over the world. Travelers, however, dare not visit those
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: mountains with any cattle but those of the country. For
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: a certain plant grows there which is so poisonous that
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: cattle which eat it lose their hoofs. The cattle of
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the country know it and assure it. The people live
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: by agriculture and have not much trade. They are of
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: a brown complexion. The whole of the province is healthy.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Book first, chapter forty four of the City of Campichu.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Campichu is also a city of Tangut, and a very
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: great and noble one. Indeed, it is the capital and
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: place of government of the whole province of Tangut. The
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: people are Idolators, Saracens, and Christians, and the latter have
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: three very fine churches in the city, whilst the idolators
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: have many ministers and abbeys after their fashion. In these
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: they have an enormous number of idols, both small and great,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: certain of the latter being a good ten paces in stature,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: some of them being of wood, others of clay, and
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: others yet of stone. They are all highly polished, and
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: then covered with The great idols of which I speak
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: lie at length, and round about them there are other
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: figures of considerable size, as if adoring and paying homage
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: before them. Now, as I have not yet given you
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: particulars about the customs of these idolators, I will proceed
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: to tell you about them. You must know that there
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: are among them certain religious recluses who lead a more
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: virtuous life than the rest. These abstain from all letchery,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: though they do not indeed regard it as a deadly sin,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: howbeit if any one sin against nature, they condemn him
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: to death. They have an ecclesiastical calendar as we have,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: and there are five days in the month that they
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: observe particularly, And on these five days they would on
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: no account either slaughter any animal or eat flesh meat
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: on those days. Moreover, they observe much greater abstinence altogether
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: than on other days. Among these people, a man may
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: take thirty wives, more or less if he can but
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: afford to do so, each having wives in proportion to
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: his wealth and means. But the first wife is always
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: held in highest consideration. The men endow their wives with cattle, slaves,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: and money according to their ability. And if a man
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: dislikes any one of his wives, he just turns her
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: off and takes another. They take to wife their cousins
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: and their father's widows, always accepting the man's own mother,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: holding to be no sin, many things that we think
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: grievous sins. And in short, they live like beasts. Messer
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Mafeo and Messer Marco Polo dwelt a whole year in
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: this city when on a mission. Now we will leave
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: this and tell you about other provinces towards the north,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: for we are going to take you a sixty days
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: journey in that direction. End of Section twenty eight