Latest / The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 1 / 023 - Book First Chapters 19 to 22 Of the descent to the city of Hormos Of the wearisome and desert road t

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023 - Book First Chapters 19 to 22 Of the descent to the city of Hormos Of the wearisome and desert road t · The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 1

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty three of the Book of Sir Marco Polo,
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  Speaker 1: the Venetian concerning the Kingdoms and Marbles 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 to 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 Rusticaello da Pisa,
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  Speaker 1: translated by Henry Yule. Book first chapters nineteen to twenty
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  Speaker 1: two of the Descent to the City of Hormos, of
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  Speaker 1: the wearisome and desert road that has now to be traveled,
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  Speaker 1: concerning the city of Cabinen and the things that are
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  Speaker 1: made there, of a certain desert that continues for eight
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  Speaker 1: days journey. Chapter nineteen of the Descent to the City
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  Speaker 1: of Hormos. The plain of which we have spoken extends
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  Speaker 1: in a southerly direction for five days journey, and then
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  Speaker 1: you come to another descent, some twenty miles in length,
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  Speaker 1: where the road is very bad and full of peril,
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  Speaker 1: for there are many robbers and bad characters about. When
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  Speaker 1: you have got to the foot of this descent you
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  Speaker 1: find another beautiful plain called the Plain of Formosa. This
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  Speaker 1: extends for two days journey, and you find in it
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  Speaker 1: fine streams of water, with plenty of date palms and
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  Speaker 1: other fruit trees. There are so many beautiful birds, francolins, poppinjays,
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  Speaker 1: and other kinds such as we have none of in
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  Speaker 1: our country. When you have ridden these two days, you
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  Speaker 1: come to the ocean sea, and on the shore you
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  Speaker 1: find a city with a harbor, which is called Hormos.
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  Speaker 1: Merchants come thither from India with ships loaded with spicery
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  Speaker 1: and precious stones, pearls, clots of silk and gold, elephant's teeth,
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  Speaker 1: and many other the wares which they sell to the
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  Speaker 1: merchants of Hormos, and which these in turn carry all
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  Speaker 1: over the world to dispose of a game. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: tis a city of immense trade. There are plenty of
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  Speaker 1: towns and villages under it, but it is the capital
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  Speaker 1: the king is called Ruamadame Ahmet. It is a very
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  Speaker 1: sickly pace, and the heat of the sun is tremendous.
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  Speaker 1: If any foreign merchant dies there, the king takes all
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  Speaker 1: his property. In this country. They make a wine of
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  Speaker 1: dates mixed with spices, which is very good. When anyone
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  Speaker 1: not used to it first drinks this wine, it causes
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  Speaker 1: repeated and violent purging, but afterwards he is all the
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  Speaker 1: better for it, and gets fat upon it. The people
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  Speaker 1: never eat meat and wheat and bread except when they
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  Speaker 1: are ill, and if they take such food when they
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  Speaker 1: are in health, it makes them ill. Their food when
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  Speaker 1: in health consists of dates and salt, fish, tunney to
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  Speaker 1: wit with onions, and this kind of diet they maintain
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  Speaker 1: in order to preserve their health. Their ships are wretched affairs,
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  Speaker 1: and many of them get lost, for they have no
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  Speaker 1: iron fastenings and are only stitched together with twine made
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  Speaker 1: from the husk of the Indian nut. They beat this
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  Speaker 1: husk until it becomes like horse hair, and from that
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  Speaker 1: they spin twine, and with this stitch the planks of
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  Speaker 1: the ships together. It keeps well and is not corroded
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  Speaker 1: by the sea water, but it will not stand well
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  Speaker 1: in a storm. The ships are not pitched, but are
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  Speaker 1: rubbed with fish oil. They have but one mast, one sail,
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  Speaker 1: and one rudder, and have no deck, but only a
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  Speaker 1: cover spread over the cargo when loaded. This cover consists
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  Speaker 1: of hides, and on the top of these hides they
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  Speaker 1: put the horses which they take to India for sale.
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  Speaker 1: They have no iron to make nails off, and for
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  Speaker 1: this reason they use only wooden tree nails in their shipbuilding,
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  Speaker 1: and then stitch the planks with twine. As I have
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  Speaker 1: told you, hence tis a perilous business to go a
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  Speaker 1: voyage in one of those ships, and many of them
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  Speaker 1: are lost. For in that sea of India, the storms
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  Speaker 1: are often terrible. The people are black and are worshippers
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  Speaker 1: of Muhammet. The residents avoid living in the cities, for
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  Speaker 1: the heat in summer is so great that it will
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  Speaker 1: kill them. Hence they go out to sleep at their
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  Speaker 1: gardens in the country, where there are streams and plenty
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  Speaker 1: of water. For all that they would not escape, but
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  Speaker 1: for one thing that I will mention. The fact is
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  Speaker 1: you see that in summer a wind often blows across
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  Speaker 1: the sands which encompass the plain, so intolerably hot that
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  Speaker 1: it would kill everybody, were it not that when they
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  Speaker 1: perceived that wind coming, they plunge into water up to
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  Speaker 1: their neck and so abide until the wind have ceased.
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  Speaker 1: And to prove the great heat of this wind Messa
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  Speaker 1: Mark related a case that befell when he was there,
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  Speaker 1: the Lord of Hormos, not having paid his tribute to
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  Speaker 1: the King of Kermann, the latter resolved to claim it
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  Speaker 1: at the time when the people of Hormos were residing
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  Speaker 1: away from the city. So he caused a force of
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  Speaker 1: sixteen hundred horse and five thousand foot to be got ready,
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  Speaker 1: and sent them by the root of Rio Bales to
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  Speaker 1: take the others by surprise. Now, it appeared one day
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  Speaker 1: that through the fault of their guide, they were not
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  Speaker 1: able to reach the place appointed for their knight's halt,
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  Speaker 1: and were obliged to bivouac in a wilderness not far
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  Speaker 1: from Hormos. In the morning, as they were starting on
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  Speaker 1: their march, they were caught by that wind, and every
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  Speaker 1: man of them was suffocated, so that not one survived
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  Speaker 1: to carry the tidings to their lord. When the people
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  Speaker 1: of Hormos heard of this, they went forth to bury
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  Speaker 1: the bodies lest they should breed a pestilence. But when
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  Speaker 1: they laid hold of them by the arms to drag
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  Speaker 1: them to the pits, the bodies proved to be so
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  Speaker 1: baked as it were by that tremendous heat that the
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  Speaker 1: arms parted from the trunks, and in the end the
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  Speaker 1: people had to dig graves hard by each where it lay,
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  Speaker 1: and so cast them in. The people sow their wheat
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  Speaker 1: and barley and other corn in the month of November,
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  Speaker 1: and reap it in the month of March. The dates
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  Speaker 1: are not gathered till May. But otherwise there is no
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  Speaker 1: grass nor any other green thing, for the excessive heat
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  Speaker 1: dries up everything. When anyone dies, they make a great
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  Speaker 1: business of the morning, for women mourn their husbands four years.
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  Speaker 1: During that time they mourn at least once a day,
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  Speaker 1: gathering together their kinsfolk and friends and neighbors for the purpose,
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  Speaker 1: and making a great weeping and whaling. And they have
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  Speaker 1: women who are mourners by trade and do it for hire.
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  Speaker 1: Now we will quit this country. I shall not, however,
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  Speaker 1: now go on to tell you about India. But when
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  Speaker 1: time and place shall suit, we shall come round from
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  Speaker 1: the north and tell you about it. For the present,
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  Speaker 1: let us return by another road to the aforesaid city
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  Speaker 1: of Kerman, for we cannot get at those countries that
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  Speaker 1: I wish to tell you about, except through that city.
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  Speaker 1: I should tell you first. However, that King Ruo Madame
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  Speaker 1: Ahomet of Hermos, which we are leaving, is a liegeman
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  Speaker 1: of the King of Kerman. On the road by which
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  Speaker 1: we return from Hormos to Kerman, you meet with some
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  Speaker 1: very fine plains, and you also find many natural hot baths.
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  Speaker 1: You find plenty of partridges on the road, and there
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  Speaker 1: are towns where victual is cheap and abundant, with quantities
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  Speaker 1: of dates and other fruits. The wheat and bread, however,
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  Speaker 1: is so bitter, owing to the bitterness of the water,
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  Speaker 1: that no one can eat it who is not used
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  Speaker 1: to it. The baths that I mentioned have excellent virtues.
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  Speaker 1: They cure the itch and several other diseases. Now, then
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  Speaker 1: I am going to tell you about the countries towards
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  Speaker 1: the north of which you shall hear in regular order.
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  Speaker 1: Let us begin chapter twenty of the wearisome and desert
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  Speaker 1: road that has now to be traveled. On departing from
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  Speaker 1: the city of Kerman, you find the road for seven
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  Speaker 1: days most wearisome, and I will tell you how this is.
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  Speaker 1: The first three days you meet with no water, or
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  Speaker 1: next to none, and what little you do meet with
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  Speaker 1: is bitter green stuff, so salt that no one can
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  Speaker 1: drink it. And in fact, if you drink a drop
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  Speaker 1: of it, it will set you purging ten times at least.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, it is the same with the salt
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  Speaker 1: which is made from those streams. No one dares to
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  Speaker 1: make use of it because of the excessive purging which
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  Speaker 1: it occasions. Hence it is necessary to carry water for
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  Speaker 1: the people to last these three days. As for the cattle,
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  Speaker 1: they must needs drink of the bad water I have mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: as there is no help for it, and the great
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  Speaker 1: thirsts makes them do so, but it scours them to
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  Speaker 1: such a degree that sometimes they die of it. In
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  Speaker 1: all those three days, you meet with no humor inhabitation.
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  Speaker 1: It is all desert and the extremity of drought. Even
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  Speaker 1: of wild beasts there are none, for there is nothing
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  Speaker 1: for them to eat. After those three days of desert,
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  Speaker 1: you arrive at a stream of fresh water running underground,
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  Speaker 1: but along which there are holes broken in here and there,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps undermined by the stream at which you can get
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  Speaker 1: sight of it. It has an abundant supply, and travelers
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  Speaker 1: worn with the hard ships of the desert, here rest
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  Speaker 1: refresh themselves and their beasts. You then enter another desert,
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  Speaker 1: which extends for four days it is very much like
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  Speaker 1: the former, except that you do see some wild asses.
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  Speaker 1: At the termination of these four days of desert, the
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  Speaker 1: kingdom of Koman comes to an end, and you find
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  Speaker 1: another city, which is called Kobinan. Chapter twenty one concerning
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  Speaker 1: the city of Coobinin and the things that are made there.
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  Speaker 1: Cobinan is a large town. The people worship Muhammet. There
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  Speaker 1: is much iron and steel and underneak, and they make
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  Speaker 1: steel mirrors of great size and beauty. They also prepare
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  Speaker 1: both to Tia, a thing very good for the eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and spodium, and I will tell you the process. They
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  Speaker 1: have a vein of a certain earth which has the
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  Speaker 1: required quality, and this they put into a great flaming furnace,
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  Speaker 1: whilst over the furnace there is an iron grating. The
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  Speaker 1: smoke and moisture expelled from the earth of which I
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  Speaker 1: speak adhere to the iron grating and thus form Toutia,
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  Speaker 1: whilst the slag that is left after burning is the spodium.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two, of a certain desert that continues for
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  Speaker 1: eight days journey. When you depart from this city of Kobinin,
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  Speaker 1: you find yourself again in a desert of surpassing aridity,
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  Speaker 1: which lasts for some eight days. Here are neither fruits
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  Speaker 1: nor trees to be seen, and what water there is
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  Speaker 1: is bitter and bad, so that you have to carry
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  Speaker 1: both food and water. The cattle must needs drink the
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  Speaker 1: bad water. Will they nill they because of their great thirst.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of those eight days you arrive at
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  Speaker 1: a province which is called Tonocaine. It has a good
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  Speaker 1: many towns and villages, and forms the extremity of Persia
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  Speaker 1: towards the north. It also contains an immense plain on
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  Speaker 1: which is found the arbor Soul, which we Christians call
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  Speaker 1: the arbor sec And I will tell you what it
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  Speaker 1: is like. It is a tall and thick tree, having
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  Speaker 1: the bark on one side green and the other white,
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  Speaker 1: and it produces a rough husk like that of a chestnut,
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  Speaker 1: but without anything in it. The wood is yellow like
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  Speaker 1: box and very strong. And there are no other trees
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  Speaker 1: near it, nor within one hundred miles of it, except
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  Speaker 1: on one side, where you find trees within about ten
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  Speaker 1: miles distance. And there the people of the country Tellu
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  Speaker 1: was fought the battle between Alexander and King Darius. The
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  Speaker 1: towns and villages have great abundance of everything good, for
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  Speaker 1: the climate is extremely temperate, being neither very hot nor
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  Speaker 1: very cold. The natives all worship Muhammed and are a
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  Speaker 1: very fine looking people, especially the women, who are surpassingly beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: End of Section twenty three