The Travels of Marco Polo
Chapter 171 : The last vestiges of Christianity in Socotra, so far as we know, are those traced by P

The last vestiges of Christianity in Socotra, so far as we know, are those traced by P. Vincenzo, the Carmelite, who visited the island after the middle of the 17th century. The people still retained a profession of Christianity, but without any knowledge, and with a strange jumble of rites; sacrificing to the moon; circ.u.mcising; abominating wine and pork.

They had churches which they called _Moquame_ (_Ar. Makam_, "Locus, Statio"?), dark, low, and dirty, daily anointed with b.u.t.ter. On the altar was a cross and a candle. The cross was regarded with ignorant reverence, and carried in processions. They a.s.sembled in their churches three times in the day, and three times in the night, and in their wors.h.i.+p burned much incense, etc. The priests were called _Odambo_, elected and consecrated by the people, and changed every year. Of baptism and other sacraments they had no knowledge.

There were two races: one, black with crisp hair; the other, less black, of better aspect, and with straight hair. Each family had a cave in which they deposited their dead. They cultivated a few palms, and kept flocks; had no money, no writing, and kept tale of their flocks by bags of stones.

They often committed suicide in age, sickness, or defeat. When rain failed they selected a victim by lot, and placing him within a circle, addressed prayers to the moon. If without success they cut off the poor wretch's hands. They had many who practised sorcery. The women were all called _Maria_, which the author regarded as a relic of Christianity; this De Barros also notices a century earlier.

Now, not a trace of former Christianity can be discovered--unless it be in the name of one of the villages on the coast, _Colesseeah_, which looks as if it faintly commemorated both the ancient religion and the ancient language ([Greek: ekklaesia]). The remains of one building, traditionally a place of wors.h.i.+p, were shown to Wellsted; he could find nothing to connect it with Christianity.

The social state of the people is much as Father Vincenzo described it; lower it could scarcely be. Mahomedanism is now the universal profession.

The people of the interior are still of distinct race, with curly hair, Indian complexion, regular features. The coast people are a mongrel body, of Arab and other descent. Probably in old times the case was similar, and the civilisation and Greek may have been confined to the littoral foreigners. (_Muller's Geog. Gr. Minores_, I. pp. 280-281; _Relations_, I.

139-140; _Cathay_, clxxi., ccxlv. 169; _Conti_, 20; _Maffei_, lib. III.; _Busching_, IV. 278; _Faria_, I. 117-118; _Ram._ I. f. 181 v. and 292; _Jarric, Thes. Rer. Indic._ I. 108-109; _P. Vinc._ 132, 442; _J.R.G.S._ V. 129 seqq.)

NOTE 3.--As far back as the 10th century Socotra was a noted haunt of pirates. Mas'udi says: "Socotra is one of the stations frequented by the Indian corsairs called _Bawarij_, which chase the Arab s.h.i.+ps bound for India and China, just as the Greek galleys chase the Mussulmans in the sea of Rum along the coasts of Syria and Egypt" (III. 37). The _Bawarij_ were corsairs of Kach'h and Guzerat, so called from using a kind of war-vessel called _Barja_. (_Elliot_, I. 65.) Ibn Batuta tells a story of a friend of his, the Shaikh Sa'id, superior of a convent at Mecca, who had been to India and got large presents at the court of Delhi. With a comrade called Hajji Washl, who was also carrying a large sum to buy horses, "when they arrived at the island of Socotra ... they were attacked by Indian corsairs with a great number of vessels.... The corsairs took everything out of the s.h.i.+p, and then left it to the crew with its tackle, so that they were able to reach Aden." Ibn Batuta's remark on this ill.u.s.trates what Polo has said of the Malabar pirates, in ch. xxv. supra: "The custom of these pirates is not to kill or drown anybody when the actual fighting is over. They take all the property of the pa.s.sengers, and then let them go whither they will with their vessel" (I. 362-363).

NOTE 4.--We have seen that P. Vincenzo alludes to the sorceries of the people; and De Barros also speaks of the _feiticeria_ or witchcraft by which the women drew s.h.i.+ps to the island, and did other marvels (u.s.).

[1] [a.s.semani, in his corrections (III. p. 362), gives up _Socotra_ in favour of _Bactria_.]

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF MADEIGASCAR.

Madeigascar is an Island towards the south, about a thousand miles from Scotra. The people are all Saracens, adoring Mahommet. They have four _Esheks_, i.e. four Elders, who are said to govern the whole Island. And you must know that it is a most n.o.ble and beautiful Island, and one of the greatest in the world, for it is about 4000 miles in compa.s.s. The people live by trade and handicrafts.

In this Island, and in another beyond it called ZANGHIBAR, about which we shall tell you afterwards, there are more elephants than in any country in the world. The amount of traffic in elephants' teeth in these two Islands is something astonis.h.i.+ng.

In this Island they eat no flesh but that of camels; and of these they kill an incredible number daily. They say it is the best and wholesomest of all flesh; and so they eat of it all the year round.[NOTE 1]

They have in this Island many trees of red sanders, of excellent quality; in fact, all their forests consist of it.[NOTE 2] They have also a quant.i.ty of ambergris, for whales are abundant in that sea, and they catch numbers of them; and so are _Oil-heads_, which are a huge kind of fish, which also produce ambergris like the whale.[NOTE 3] There are numbers of leopards, bears, and lions in the country, and other wild beasts in abundance. Many traders, and many s.h.i.+ps go thither with cloths of gold and silk, and many other kinds of goods, and drive a profitable trade.

You must know that this Island lies so far south that s.h.i.+ps cannot go further south or visit other Islands in that direction, except this one, and that other of which we have to tell you, called Zanghibar. This is because the sea-current runs so strong towards the south that the s.h.i.+ps which should attempt it never would get back again. Indeed, the s.h.i.+ps of Maabar which visit this Island of Madeigascar, and that other of Zanghibar, arrive thither with marvellous speed, for great as the distance is they accomplish it in 20 days, whilst the return voyage takes them more than 3 months. This (I say) is because of the strong current running south, which continues with such singular force and in the same direction at all seasons.[NOTE 4]

'Tis said that in those other Islands to the south, which the s.h.i.+ps are unable to visit because this strong current prevents their return, is found the bird _Gryphon_, which appears there at certain seasons.

The description given of it is however entirely different from what our stories and pictures make it. For persons who had been there and had seen it told Messer Marco Polo that it was for all the world like an eagle, but one indeed of enormous size; so big in fact that its wings covered an extent of 30 paces, and its quills were 12 paces long, and thick in proportion. And it is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air, and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces; having so killed him the bird gryphon swoops down on him and eats him at leisure. The people of those isles call the bird _Ruc_, and it has no other name.[NOTE 5] So I wot not if this be the real gryphon, or if there be another manner of bird as great. But this I can tell you for certain, that they are not half lion and half bird as our stories do relate; but enormous as they be they are fas.h.i.+oned just like an eagle.

The Great Kaan sent to those parts to enquire about these curious matters, and the story was told by those who went thither. He also sent to procure the release of an envoy of his who had been despatched thither, and had been detained; so both those envoys had many wonderful things to tell the Great Kaan about those strange islands, and about the birds I have mentioned. [They brought (as I heard) to the Great Kaan a feather of the said Ruc, which was stated to measure 90 spans, whilst the quill part was two palms in circ.u.mference, a marvellous object! The Great Kaan was delighted with it, and gave great presents to those who brought it.

[NOTE 6]] They also brought two boars' tusks, which weighed more than 14 lbs. apiece; and you may gather how big the boar must have been that had teeth like that! They related indeed that there were some of those boars as big as a great buffalo. There are also numbers of giraffes and wild a.s.ses; and in fact a marvellous number of wild beasts of strange aspect.[NOTE 7]

NOTE 1.--Marco is, I believe, the first writer European or Asiatic, who unambiguously speaks of MADAGASCAR; but his information about it was very incorrect in many particulars. There are no elephants nor camels in the island, nor any leopards, bears, or lions.

Indeed, I have no doubt that Marco, combining information from different sources, made some confusion between _Makdashau_ (Magadoxo) and _Madagascar_, and that particulars belonging to both are mixed up here.

This accounts for Zanghibar being placed entirely _beyond_ Madagascar, for the entirely Mahomedan character given to the population, for the hippopotamus-teeth and staple trade in ivory, as well for the lions, elephants, and other beasts. But above all the camel-killing indicates Sumali Land and Magadoxo as the real locality of part of the information.

Says Ibn Batuta: "After leaving Zaila we sailed on the sea for 15 days, and arrived at Makdashau, an extremely large town. The natives keep camels in great numbers, _and they slaughter several hundreds daily_" (II.

181). The slaughter of camels for food is still a Sumali practice. (See _J.R.G.S._ VI. 28, and XIX. 55.) Perhaps the _Shaikhs_ (_Esceqe_) also belong to the same quarter, for the Arab traveller says that the Sultan of Makdashau had no higher t.i.tle than _Shaikh_ (183); and Brava, a neighbouring settlement, was governed by 12 shaikhs. (_De Barros_, I.

viii. 4.) Indeed, this kind of local oligarchy still prevails on that coast.

We may add that both Makdashau and Brava are briefly described in the Annals of the Ming Dynasty. The former _Mu-ku-tu-su_, lies on the sea, 20 days from _Siao-Kolan_ (Quilon?), a barren mountainous country of wide extent, where it sometimes does not rain for years. In 1427 a mission came from this place to China. _Pu-la-wa_ (Brava, properly Barawa) adjoins the former, and is also on the sea. It produces olibanum, myrrh, and _ambergris_; and among animals elephants, camels, rhinoceroses, spotted animals like a.s.ses, etc.[1]

It is, however, true that there are traces of a considerable amount of ancient Arab colonisation on the sh.o.r.es of Madagascar. Arab descent is ascribed to a cla.s.s of the people of the province of Mat.i.tanana on the east coast, in lat. 21-23 south, and the Arabic writing is in use there.

The people of the St. Mary's Isle of our maps off the east coast, in lat.

17, also call themselves the children of Ibrahim, and the island _Nusi-Ibrahim_. And on the north-west coast, at Bambeluka Bay, Captain Owen found a large Arab population, whose forefathers had been settled there from time immemorial. The number of tombs here and in Magambo Bay showed that the Arab population had once been much greater. The government of this settlement, till conquered by Radama, was vested in three persons: one a Malagash, the second an Arab, the third as guardian of strangers; a fact also suggestive of Polo's four sheikhs (_Ellis_, I. 131; _Owen_, II. 102, 132. See also _Sonnerat_, II. 56.) Though the Arabs were in the habit of navigating to Sofala, in about lat. 20 south, in the time of Mas'udi (beginning of 10th century), and must have then known Madagascar, there is no intelligible indication of it in any of their geographies that have been translated.[2]

[M. Alfred Grandidier, in his _Hist. de la Geog. de Madagascar_, p. 31, comes to the conclusion that Marco Polo has given a very exact description of Magadoxo, but that he did not know the island of Madagascar. He adds in a note that Yule has shown that the description of Madeigascar refers partly to Magadoxo, but that notwithstanding he (Yule) believed that Polo spoke of Madagascar when the Venetian traveller does not. I must say that I do not see any reason why Yule's theory should not be accepted.

M.G. Ferrand, formerly French Agent at Fort Dauphin, has devoted ch. ix.

(pp. 83-90) of the second part of his valuable work _Les Musulmans a Madagascar_ (Paris, 1893), to the "Etymology of Madagascar." He believes that M. Polo really means the great African Island. I mention from his book that M. Guet (_Origines de l'ile Bourbon_, 1888) brings the Carthaginians to Madagascar, and derives the name of this island from _Madax-Aschtoret_ or _Madax-Astarte_, which signifies _Isle of Astarte_ and _Isle of Tanit_! Mr. I. Taylor (_The origin of the name_ 'Madagascar,'

in _Antananarivo Annual_, 1891) gives also some fancy etymologies; it is needless to mention them. M. Ferrand himself thinks that very likely Madagascar simply means _Country of the Malagash_ (Malgaches), and is only a bad transcription of the Arabic _Madagasbar_.--H.C.]

NOTE 2.--There is, or used to be, a trade in sandal-wood from Madagascar.

(See _Owen_, II. 99.) In the map of S. Lorenzo (or Madagascar) in the _Isole_ of Porcacchi (1576), a map evidently founded on fact, I observe near the middle of the Island: _quivi sono boschi di sandari rossi_.

NOTE 3.--"The coast of this province" (Ivongo, the N.E. of the Island) "abounds with whales, and during a certain period of the year Antongil Bay is a favourite resort for whalers of all nations. The inhabitants of t.i.tingue are remarkably expert in spearing the whales from their slight canoes." (_Lloyd_ in _J.R.G.S._ XX. 56.) A description of the whale-catching process practised by the Islanders of St. Mary's, or Nusi Ibrahim, is given in the _Quinta Pars Indiae Orientalis_ of _De Bry_, p. 9.

Owen gives a similar account (I. 170).

The word which I have rendered _Oil-heads_ is _Capdoilles_ or _Capdols_, representing _Capidoglio_, the appropriate name still applied in Italy to the Spermaceti whale. The _Vocab. Ital. Univ._ quotes Ariosto (VII. 36):--

--"_I_ Capidogli _co' vecchi marini Vengon turbati dal lor pigro sonno_."

The Spermaceti-whale is described under this name by Rondeletius, but from his cut it is clear he had not seen the animal.

NOTE 4.--De Barros, after describing the dangers of the Channel of Mozambique, adds: "And as the Moors of this coast of Zanguebar make their voyages in s.h.i.+ps and sambuks sewn with coir, instead of being nailed like ours, and thus strong enough to bear the force of the cold seas of the region about the Cape of Good Hope,.. they never dared to attempt the exploration of the regions to the westward of the Cape of Currents, although they greatly desired to do so." (Dec. I. viii. 4; and see also IV. i. 12.) Kazwini says of the Ocean, quoting Al Biruni: "Then it extends to the sea known as that of Berbera, and stretches from Aden to the furthest extremity of Zanjibar; beyond this goes no vessel on account of the great current. Then it extends to what are called the Mountains of the Moon, whence spring the sources of the Nile of Egypt, and thence to Western Sudan, to the Spanish Countries and the (Western) Ocean." There has been recent controversy between Captain A.D. Taylor and Commodore Jansen of the Dutch navy, regarding the Mozambique currents, and (incidentally) Polo's accuracy. The currents in the Mozambique Channel vary with the monsoons, but from Cape Corrientes southward along the coast runs the permanent Lagullas current, and Polo's statement requires but little correction. (_Ethe_ pp. 214-215; see also _Barbosa_ in _Ram._ I.

288; _Owen_, I. 269; _Stanley's Correa_, p. 261; _J.R.G.S._ II. 91; _Fra Mauro_ in _Zurla_, p. 61; see also _Reinaud's Abulfeda_, vol. i. pp.

15-16; and _Ocean Highways_, August to November, 1873.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Rukh (from Lane's "Arabian Nights"), after a Persian drawing.]

NOTE 5.--The fable of the RUKH was old and widely spread, like that of the Male and Female Islands, and, just as in that case, one accidental circ.u.mstance or another would give it a local habitation, now here now there. The _Garuda_ of the Hindus, the _Simurgh_ of the old Persians, the _'Angka_ of the Arabs, the _Bar Yuchre_ of the Rabbinical legends, the _Gryps_ of the Greeks, were probably all versions of the same original fable.

Bochart quotes a bitter Arabic proverb which says, "Good-Faith, the Ghul, and the Gryphon (_'Angka_) are three names of things that exist nowhere."

And Mas'udi, after having said that whatever country he visited he always found that the people believed these monstrous creatures to exist in regions as remote as possible from their own, observes: "It is not that our reason absolutely rejects the possibility of the existence of the _Nesnas_ (see vol. i. p. 206) or of the _'Angka_, and other beings of that rare and wondrous order; for there is nothing in their existence incompatible with the Divine Power; but we decline to believe in them because their existence has not been manifested to us on any irrefragable authority."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Frontispiece showing the Bird _Rukh_.]

The circ.u.mstance which for the time localized the Rukh in the direction of Madagascar was perhaps some rumour of the great fossil _Aepyornis_ and its colossal eggs, found in that island. According to Geoffroy St. Hilaire, the Malagashes a.s.sert that the bird which laid those great eggs still exists, that it has an immense power of flight, and preys upon the greater quadrupeds. Indeed the continued existence of the bird has been alleged as late as 1861 and 1863!

On the great map of Fra Mauro (1459) near the extreme point of Africa which he calls _Cavo de Diab_, and which is suggestive of the Cape of Good Hope, but was really perhaps Cape Corrientes, there is a rubric inscribed with the following remarkable story: "About the year of Our Lord 1420 a s.h.i.+p or junk of India in crossing the Indian Sea was driven by way of the Islands of Men and Women beyond the Cape of Diab, and carried between the Green Islands and the Darkness in a westerly and south-westerly direction for 40 days, without seeing anything but sky and sea, during which time they made to the best of their judgment 2000 miles. The gale then ceasing they turned back, and were seventy days in getting to the aforesaid Cape Diab. The s.h.i.+p having touched on the coast to supply its wants, the mariners beheld there the egg of a certain bird called _Chrocho_, which egg was as big as a b.u.t.t.[3] And the bigness of the bird is such that between the extremities of the wings is said to be 60 paces. They say too that it carries away an elephant or any other great animal with the greatest ease, and does great injury to the inhabitants of the country, and is most rapid in its flight."

G.-St. Hilaire considered the Aepyornis to be of the Ostrich family; Prince C. Buonaparte cla.s.sed it with the _Inepti_ or Dodos; Duvernay of Valenciennes with aquatic birds! There was clearly therefore room for difference of opinion, and Professor Bianconi of Bologna, who has written much on the subject, concludes that it was most probably a bird of the vulture family. This would go far, he urges, to justify Polo's account of the Ruc as a bird of prey, though the story of it's _lifting_ any large animal could have had no foundation, as the feet of the vulture kind are unfit for such efforts. Humboldt describes the habit of the condor of the Andes as that of worrying, wearying, and frightening its four-footed prey until it drops; sometimes the condor drives its victim over a precipice.

Bianconi concludes that on the same scale of proportion as the condor's, the great quills of the Aepyornis would be about 10 feet long, and the spread of the wings about 32 feet, whilst the height of the bird would be at least four times that of the condor. These are indeed little more than conjectures. And I must add that in Professor Owen's opinion there is no reasonable doubt that the Aepyornis was a bird allied to the Ostriches.

We gave, in the first edition of this work, a drawing of the great Aepyornis egg in the British Museum of its true size, as the nearest approach we could make to an ill.u.s.tration of the _Rukh_ from nature. The actual contents of this egg will be about 2.35 gallons, which may be compared with Fra Mauro's _anfora_! Except in this matter of size, his story of the s.h.i.+p and the egg may be true.