The Travels of Marco Polo
Chapter 173 : They have among them excellent and valiant warriors, and have little fear of death. Th

They have among them excellent and valiant warriors, and have little fear of death. They have no horses, but fight mounted on camels and elephants.

On the latter they set wooden castles which carry from ten to sixteen persons, armed with lances, swords, and stones, so that they fight to great purpose from these castles. They wear no armour, but carry only a s.h.i.+eld of hide, besides their swords and lances, and so a marvellous number of them fall in battle. When they are going to take an elephant into battle they ply him well with their wine, so that he is made half drunk. They do this because the drink makes him more fierce and bold, and of more service in battle.[NOTE 5]

As there is no more to say on this subject I will go on to tell you about the Great Province of ABASH, which const.i.tutes the MIDDLE INDIA;--but I must first say something about India in general.

You must understand that in speaking of the Indian Islands we have described only the most n.o.ble provinces and kingdoms among them; for no man on earth could give you a true account of the whole of the Islands of India. Still, what I have described are the best, and as it were the Flower of the Indies. For the greater part of the other Indian Islands that I have omitted are subject to those that I have described. It is a fact that in this Sea of India there are 12,700 Islands, inhabited and uninhabited, according to the charts and doc.u.ments of experienced mariners who navigate that Indian Sea.[NOTE 6]

INDIA THE GREATER is that which extends from Maabar to Kesmacoran; and it contains 13 great kingdoms, of which we have described ten. These are all on the mainland.

INDIA THE LESSER extends from the Province of Champa to Mutfili, and contains eight great kingdoms. These are likewise all on the mainland. And neither of these numbers includes the Islands, among which also there are very numerous kingdoms, as I have told you.[NOTE 7]

NOTE 1.--ZANGIBAR, "the Region of the Blacks," known to the ancients as _Zingis_ and _Zingium_. The name was applied by the Arabs, according to De Barros, to the whole stretch of coast from the Kilimanchi River, which seems to be the Jubb, to Cape Corrientes beyond the Southern Tropic, i.e. as far as Arab traffic extended; Burton says now from the Jubb to Cape Delgado. According to Abulfeda, the King of Zinjis dwelt at Mombasa.

In recent times the name is by Europeans almost appropriated to the Island on which resides the Sultan of the Maskat family, to whom Sir B. Frere lately went as envoy. Our author's "Island" has no reference to this; it is an error simply.

Our traveller's information is here, I think, certainly at second hand, though no doubt he had seen the negroes whom he describes with such disgust, and apparently the sheep and the giraffes.

NOTE 2.--These sheep are common at Aden, whither they are imported from the opposite African coast. They have hair like smooth goats, no wool.

Varthema also describes them (p. 87). In the Cairo Museum, among ornaments found in the mummy-pits, there is a little figure of one of these sheep, the head and neck in some blue stone and the body in white agate. (_Note by Author of the sketch on next page._)

NOTE 3.--A giraffe--made into a _seraph_ by the Italians--had been frequently seen in Italy in the early part of the century, there being one in the train of the Emperor Frederic II. Another was sent by Bibars to the Imperial Court in 1261, and several to Barka Khan at Sarai in 1263; whilst the King of Nubia was bound by treaty in 1275 to deliver to the Sultan three elephants, three giraffes, and five she-panthers. (_Kington_, I.

471; _Makrizi_, I. 216; II. 106, 108.) The giraffe is sometimes wrought in the patterns of mediaeval Saracenic damasks, and in Sicilian ones imitated from the former. Of these there are examples in the Kensington Collection.

I here omit a pa.s.sage about the elephant. It recounts an old and long-persistent fable, exploded by Sir T. Brown, and indeed before him by the sensible Garcia de Orta.

NOTE 4.--The port of Zanzibar is probably the chief ivory mart in the world. Ambergris is mentioned by Burton among miscellaneous exports, but it is not now of any consequence. Owen speaks of it as brought for sale at Delagoa Bay in the south.

NOTE 5.--Mas'udi more correctly says: "The country abounds with wild elephants, but you don't find a single tame one. The Zinjes employ them neither in war nor otherwise, and if they hunt them 'tis only to kill them" (III. 7). It is difficult to conceive how Marco could have got so much false information. The only beast of burden in Zanzibar, at least north of Mozambique, is the a.s.s. His particulars seem jumbled from various parts of Africa. The camel-riders suggest the _Bejas_ of the Red Sea coast, of whom there were in Mas'udi's time 30,000 warriors so mounted, and armed with lances and bucklers (III. 34). The elephant stories may have arisen from the occasional use of these animals by the Kings of Abyssinia. (See Note 4 to next chapter.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ethiopian Sheep.]

NOTE 6.--An approximation to 12,000 as a round number seems to have been habitually used in reference to the Indian Islands; John of Montecorvino says they are many more than 12,000; Jorda.n.u.s had heard that there were 10,000 _inhabited_. Linschoten says some estimated the Maldives at 11,100.

And we learn from Pyrard de Laval that the Sultan of the Maldives called himself Ibrahim Sultan of Thirteen Atollons (or coral groups) and of 12,000 Islands! This is probably the origin of the proverbial number. Ibn Batuta, in his excellent account of the Maldives, estimates them at only about 2000. But Captain Owen, commenting on Pyrard, says that he believes the actual number of islands to be treble or fourfold of 12,000. (_P. de Laval_ in _Charton_, IV. 255; _I.B._ IV. 40; _J.R.G.S._ II. 84.)

NOTE 7.--The term "India" became very vague from an early date. In fact, Alcuin divides the whole world into three parts, Europe, Africa, and India. Hence it was necessary to discriminate different Indias, but there is very little agreement among different authors as to this discrimination.

The earliest use that I can find of the terms India Major and Minor is in the _Liber Junioris Philosophi_ published by Hudson, and which is believed to be translated from a lost Greek original of the middle of the 4th century. In this author India Minor adjoins Persia. So it does with Friar Jorda.n.u.s. His India Minor appears to embrace Sind (possibly Mekran), and the western coast exclusive of Malabar. India Major extends from Malabar indefinitely eastward. His _India Tertia_ is Zanjibar. The Three Indies appear in a map contained in a MS. by Guido Pisa.n.u.s, written in 1118.

Conti divides India into three: (1) From Persia to the Indus (i.e.

Mekran and Sind); (2) From the Indus to the Ganges; (3) All that is beyond Ganges (Indo-China and China).

In a map of Andrea Bianco at Venice (No. 12) the divisions are--(1) India Minor, extending westward to the Persian Gulf; (2) India Media, "containing 14 regions and 12 nations;" and (3) India Superior, containing 8 regions and 24 nations.

Marino Sanuto places immediately east of the Persian Gulf "India Minor _quae et Ethiopia_."

John Marignolli again has three Indias: (1) Manzi or India Maxima (S.

China); (2) Mynibar (Malabar); (3) Maabar. The last two with Guzerat are Abulfeda's divisions, exclusive of Sind.

We see that there was a traditional tendency to make out _Three Indies_, but little concord as to their ident.i.ty. With regard to the expressions _Greater_ and _Lesser_ India, I would recall attention to what has been said about Greater and Lesser Java (supra, chap. ix. note 1). Greater India was originally intended, I imagine, for the _real_ India, what our maps call Hindustan. And the threefold division, with its inclination to place one of the Indies in Africa, I think may have originated with the Arab _Hind_, _Sind_, and _Zinj_. I may add that our vernacular expression "the Indies" is itself a vestige of the twofold or threefold division of which we have been speaking.

The part.i.tion of the Indies made by King Sebastian of Portugal in 1571, when he const.i.tuted his eastern possessions into three governments, recalled the old division into Three Indias. The first, INDIA, extending from Cape Gardafui to Ceylon, stood in a general way for Polo's India Major; the second MONOMOTAPA, from Gardafui to Cape Corrientes (India Tertia of Jorda.n.u.s); the third MALACCA, from Pegu to China (India Minor).

(_Faria y Souza_, II. 319.)

Polo's knowledge of India, _as a whole_, is so little exact that it is too indefinite a problem to consider which are the three kingdoms that he has _not_ described. The ten which he has described appear to be--(1) Maabar, (2) Coilum, (3) Comari, (4) Eli, (5) Malabar, (6) Guzerat, (7) Tana, (8) Canbaet, (9) s.e.m.e.nat, (10) Kesmacoran. On the one hand, this distribution in itself contains serious misapprehensions, as we have seen, and on the other there must have been many dozens of kingdoms in India Major instead of 13, if such states as Comari, Hili, and Somnath were to be separately counted. Probably it was a common saying that there were 12 kings in India, and the fact of his having himself described so many, which he knew did not nearly embrace the whole, may have made Polo convert this into 13.

Jorda.n.u.s says: "In this Greater India are 12 idolatrous kings and more;"

but his Greater India is much more extensive than Polo's. Those which he names are _Molebar_ (probably the kingdom of the Zamorin of Calicut), _Singuyli_ (Cranganor), _Columb.u.m_ (Quilon), _Molephatan_ (on the east coast, uncertain, see above pp. 333, 391), and _Sylen_ (Ceylon), _Java_, three or four kings, _Telenc_ (Polo's Mutfili), _Maratha_ (Deogir), _Batigala_ (in Canara), and in _Champa_ (apparently put for all Indo-China) many kings. According to Firishta there were about a dozen _important_ princ.i.p.alities in India at the time of the Mahomedan conquest of which he mentions _eleven_, viz.: (1) _Kanauj_, (2) _Mirat_ (or Delhi), (3) _Mahavan_ (Mathra), (4) _Lah.o.r.e_, (5) _Malwa_, (6) _Guzerat_, (7) _Ajmir_, (8) _Gwalior_, (9) _Kalinjar_, (10) _Multan_, (11) _Ujjain_.

(_Ritter_, V. 535.) This omits Bengal, Orissa, and all the Deccan. _Twelve_ is a round number which constantly occurs in such statements. Ibn Batuta tells us there were 12 princes in Malabar alone. Chinghiz, in Sanang-Setzen, speaks of his vow to subdue the _twelve_ kings of the human race (91). Certain figures in a temple at Anhilwara in Guzerat are said by local tradition to be the effigies of the _twelve_ great kings of Europe.

(_Todd's Travels_, p. 107.) The King of Arakan used to take the t.i.tle of "Lord of the 12 provinces of Bengal" (_Reinaud, Inde_, p. 139.)

The _Masalak-al-Absar_ of s.h.i.+habuddin Dimishki, written some forty years after Polo's book, gives a list of the provinces (twice twelve in number) into which India was then considered to be divided. It runs--(1) _Delhi_, (2) _Deogir_, (3) _Multan_, (4) _Kehran_ (_Kohram_, in Sirhind Division of Province of Delhi?), (5) _Saman_ (Samana, N.W. of Delhi?), (6) _Siwastan_ (Sehwan), (7) _Ujah_ (Uchh), (8) _Hasi_ (Hansi), (9) _Sarsati_ (Sirsa), (10) _Ma'bar_, (11) _Tiling_, (12) _Gujerat_, (13) _Badaun_, (14) _Audh_, (15) _Kanauj_, (16) _Laknaoti_ (Upper Bengal), (17) _Bahar_, (18) _Karrah_ (in the Doab), (19) _Malawa_, (Malwa), (20) _Lahaur_, (21) _Kalanur_ (in the Bari Doab, above Lah.o.r.e), (22) _Jajnagar_ (according to Elphinstone, Tipura in Bengal), (23) _Tilinj_ (a repet.i.tion or error), (24) _Dursamand_ (Dwara Samudra, the kingdom of the Bellals in Mysore). Neither Malabar nor Orissa is accounted for. (See _Not. et Ext._ XIII. 170). Another list, given by the historian Zia-uddin Barni some years later, embraces again only _twelve_ provinces. These are (1) Delhi, (2) Gujerat, (3) Malwah, (4) Deogir, (5) Tiling, (6) Kampilah (in the Doab, between Koil and Farakhabad), (7) Dur Samandar, (8) Ma'bar, (9) _Tirhut_, (10) Lakhnaoti, (11) _Satganw_, (12) _Sunarganw_ (these two last forming the Western and Eastern portions of Lower Bengal).[1]

[1] _E. Thomas_, Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi, p. 203.

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

TREATING OF THE GREAT PROVINCE OF ABASH WHICH IS MIDDLE INDIA, AND IS ON THE MAINLAND.

Abash is a very great Province, and you must know that it const.i.tutes the MIDDLE INDIA; and it is on the mainland. There are in it six great Kings with six great Kingdoms; and of these six Kings there are three that are Christians and three that are Saracens; but the greatest of all the six is a Christian, and all the others are subject to him.[NOTE 1]

The Christians in this country bear three marks on the face;[NOTE 2] one from the forehead to the middle of the nose, and one on either cheek.

These marks are made with a hot iron, and form part of their baptism; for after that they have been baptised with water, these three marks are made, partly as a token of gentility, and partly as the completion of their baptism. There are also Jews in the country, and these bear two marks, one on either cheek; and the Saracens have but one, to wit, on the forehead extending halfway down the nose.

The Great King lives in the middle of the country, the Saracens towards Aden. St. Thomas the Apostle preached in this region, and after he had converted the people he went away to the province of Maabar, where he died; and there his body lies, as I have told you in a former place.

The people here are excellent soldiers, and they go on horseback, for they have horses in plenty. Well they may; for they are in daily war with the Soldan of ADEN, and with the Nubians, and a variety of other nations.

[NOTE 3] I will tell you a famous story of what befel in the year of Christ, 1288.

You must know that this Christian King, who is the Lord of the Province of Abash, declared his intention to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem to adore the Holy Sepulchre of Our Lord G.o.d Jesus Christ the Saviour. But his Barons said that for him to go in person would be to run too great a risk; and they recommended him to send some bishop or prelate in his stead. So the King a.s.sented to the counsel which his Barons gave, and despatched a certain Bishop of his, a man of very holy life. The Bishop then departed and travelled by land and by sea till he arrived at the Holy Sepulchre, and there he paid it such honour as Christian man is bound to do, and presented a great offering on the part of his King who had sent him in his own stead.

And when he had done all that behoved him, he set out again and travelled day by day till he got to Aden. Now that is a Kingdom wherein Christians are held in great detestation, for the people are all Saracens, and their enemies unto the death. So when the Soldan of Aden heard that this man was a Christian and a Bishop, and an envoy of the Great King of Abash, he had him seized and demanded of him if he were a Christian? To this the Bishop replied that he was a Christian indeed. The Soldan then told him that unless he would turn to the Law of Mahommet he should work him great shame and dishonour. The Bishop answered that they might kill him ere he would deny his Creator.

When the Soldan heard that he waxed wroth, and ordered that the Bishop should be circ.u.mcised. So they took and circ.u.mcised him after the manner of the Saracens. And then the Soldan told him that he had been thus put to shame in despite to the King his master. And so they let him go.

The Bishop was sorely cut to the heart for the shame that had been wrought him, but he took comfort because it had befallen him in holding fast by the Law of Our Lord Jesus Christ; and the Lord G.o.d would recompense his soul in the world to come.

So when he was healed he set out and travelled by land and by sea till he reached the King his Lord in the Kingdom of Abash. And when the King beheld him, he welcomed him with great joy and gladness. And he asked him all about the Holy Sepulchre; and the Bishop related all about it truly, the King listening the while as to a most holy matter in all faith. But when the Bishop had told all about Jerusalem, he then related the outrage done on him by the Soldan of Aden in the King's despite. Great was the King's wrath and grief when he heard that; and it so disturbed him that he was like to die of vexation. And at length his words waxed so loud that all those round about could hear what he was saying. He vowed that he would never wear crown or hold kingdom if he took not such condign vengeance on the Soldan of Aden that all the world should ring therewithal, even until the insult had been well and thoroughly redressed.

And what shall I say of it? He straightway caused the array of his horse and foot to be mustered, and great numbers of elephants with castles to be prepared to accompany them;[NOTE 4] and when all was ready he set out with his army and advanced till he entered the Kingdom of Aden in great force.

The Kings of this province of Aden were well aware of the King's advance against them, and went to encounter him at the strongest pa.s.s on their frontier, with a great force of armed men, in order to bar the enemy from entering their territory. When the King arrived at this strong pa.s.s where the Saracens had taken post, a battle began, fierce and fell on both sides, for they were very bitter against each other. But it came to pa.s.s, as it pleased our Lord G.o.d Jesus Christ, that the Kings of the Saracens, who were three in number, could not stand against the Christians, for they are not such good soldiers as the Christians are. So the Saracens were defeated, and a marvellous number of them slain, and the King of Abash entered the Kingdom of Aden with all his host. The Saracens made various sallies on them in the narrow defiles, but it availed nothing; they were always beaten and slain. And when the King had greatly wasted and destroyed the kingdom of his enemy, and had remained in it more than a month with all his host, continually slaying the Saracens, and ravaging their lands (so that great numbers of them perished), he thought it time to return to his own kingdom, which he could now do with great honour.

Indeed he could tarry no longer, nor could he, as he was aware, do more injury to the enemy; for he would have had to force a way by still stronger pa.s.ses, where, in the narrow defiles, a handful of men might cause him heavy loss. So he quitted the enemy's Kingdom of Aden and began to retire. And he with his host got back to their own country of Abash in great triumph and rejoicing; for he had well avenged the shame cast on him and on his Bishop for his sake. For they had slain so many Saracens, and so wasted and harried the land, that 'twas something to be astonished at.

And in sooth 'twas a deed well done! For it is not to be borne that the dogs of Saracens should lord it over good Christian people! Now you have heard the story.[NOTE 5]

I have still some particulars to tell you of the same province. It abounds greatly in all kinds of victual; and the people live on flesh and rice and milk and sesame. They have plenty of elephants, not that they are bred in the country, but they are brought from the Islands of the other India.

They have however many giraffes, which are produced in the country; besides bears, leopards, lions in abundance, and many other pa.s.sing strange beasts. They have also numerous wild a.s.ses; and c.o.c.ks and hens the most beautiful that exist, and many other kind of birds. For instance, they have ostriches that are nearly as big as a.s.ses; and plenty of beautiful parrots, with apes of sundry kinds, and baboons and other monkeys that have countenances all but human.[NOTE 6]