CHAPTER XVII.
Travels of the Ambassadors of Mirza Shah Rokh, King of Persia, from Herat to Khanbalek in Katkay, in 1419634
This curious embassy, sent by Mirza Shah Rokh one of the sons of Timur, or Timour the Great, better known in Europe by the name of Tamerlane, travelled from Herat, in Persia, the residence of their sovereign, to Khanbalek, Cambalu, or Peking, the imperial city of Kathay, Khatay, Kitay, or Northern China, where Yong-lo, or Ching-tsu, the third emperor of the race of Ming then kept his court. Yong-lo began to reign, in 1404, and died in 1425, the year in which the ambassadors returned to Persia, the race of Ming, a Chinese dynasty, was founded in 1368, fifty-one years before the present embassy, by Hoang-vu, who had expelled the Mongol khans, the degenerate and enervated descendants of Gingis or Zengis. This journey was described by the famous Persian historian, Emir-Khond, or Emir-Khovand, usually known by the name of Mirchond, in his performance, entitled, "Of the Wonders of the World." Nicolas Witsen635, a learned burgomaster of Amsterdam, has inserted this curious journey, in his curious work, "Of North and East Tartary," Having translated it for that purpose from the Persian into Dutch. The singularly excellent work of Witsen is extremely rare, and very seldom to be met with, as the author suppressed the work, from motives which are now unknown. The library of the university of Goettingen; formerly possessed a copy, which had belonged to the library of the Empress of Russia, and which was purchased at the sale of the effects of the late Mr Thunnman for eighty-six dollars. These travels are contained in the fourth volume of the French collection by Thevenot; who says that it was written in Persian, in twelve pages, without notes or explanation. He makes no mention of the translator, but probably borrowed the article from Witsen, without acknowledgment. The present edition is taken from Astleys collection, and is enriched by several notes and elucidations, by Mr John Reinhold Forster; who, while he regrets the scarcity of Witsens valuable work in Dutch, forgets to inform us of the existence of this tract in Thevenot, or in the collection of Astley. This journey throws some light on the interior part of Tartary, or Central Asia; and is therefore an important addition to our scanty knowledge of that little known and interesting country, the real storehouse of nations, and the scourge, during many centuries, of all the surrounding countries, from the sea of Japan to the Baltic, and from the Frozen Ocean, to the seas of China, India, Persia, Arabia, and Roum, or the Mediterranean.
The present edition has been carefully corrected and enlarged, by collation with the abstract which Forster published from the Dutch translation by Witsen. This journal gives many curious remarks on the magnificence of the Chinese court, and respecting the ceremonial observed in giving audience to ambassadors, which still continue nearly the same. The editor of Astley labours hard to explain away the want of notice In these travels, and in the repeated journeys of Marco Polo, respecting the great Chinese wall. But the only rational explanation of this omission, is the clear conclusion that it was not then built. We learn from this narrative, that the paper money of the former Mogul Khans of Kathay was no longer in use, and that silver money, under the same denomination of Balishes, had been substituted in its place.
In the year of the Hejirah 822, or 1419 of the Christian era, the Sultan Mirza Shah Rokh, king of Persia, sent ambassadors from Herat, his royal residence, to the emperor of Kathay, or China, of whom Shadi Khoja was the chief. At the same time, Mirza Baysangar, the son of Shah Rokh, sent Soltan Ahmet, and a painter named Khoja Gayath Addin, to accompany his fathers ambassadors, giving orders to his servants to keep an exact journal of their travels, and to take notice of every thing that was remarkable in every city and country they travelled through; carefully noting the nature of the roads, the police, and customs of the people, and the magnificence and government of the various sovereigns. Leaving Herat636 on the 11th of the month Zi'lkaa-deh637, the ambassadors arrived at Balkh on the 8th of Zi'lhejjeh, where they were detained by the rains till the first of Moharram, in the year 823 of the Hejira638, or Thursday, 16th January 1420; on which day they departed from Balkh, and arrived in twenty-two days journey at Samarkand. They here found Soltan Shars, and Mehemmed Bakhshi, the ambassadors of Ulug-Beg639, who had been sent to accompany them, together with all his Kathayans: And the ambassadors of Khorassan, Badakshan, and from other princes, having here joined company, they all set out together with those of Kathay640.
Having passed through the cities of Tashkend, Sayram, and Ash641, they entered into the country of the Mongols642 on the eleventh of Rabiya-al– akher, and learnt that the horde was in great confusion, Awis-khan being at war with Shir Mehemmed Aglan. These disturbances being settled, Amir Khudadad, who commanded in that country, came to inform them, that the ambassadors might proceed safely on their journey. On the 18th of Jomada– al-awal, they came to a place named Bilgotu643, on the territories of Mehemmed-Beg, where they waited for the Dajis644, and the retinue of the Shah of Badakshan. After their arrival, they passed the river Kenker645 on the twenty-second of Jomada-al-awal, and next day, they saw Mehemmed– Beg, prince of that horde, whose son, Soltan Shadi Karkan646, was son-in– law to Shah Rokh, and a daughter of that prince had married Mirza Mehemmed Juki647. On the twenty-eighth of the before named month, they entered the country of Ilduz648, which was occupied by the tribe of Jel, and under the dominion of Shir Behram, or Scheir Begrahim; and though the sun was then in the summer solstice, they were often astonished to find ice two inches thick in this vast desert. On the eighth of Jomada-al-akher, they were alarmed, by receiving, news that the son of Ahmed Beg had plundered the Daji, who was ambassador from Awis, or Oweys Khan; and they made every possible haste to pass through the defiles of the mountains, notwithstanding of much hail and rain falling at the time. At the end or the month, they arrived at Tarkan649, where there is a great temple, with a huge idol, which the idolatrous inhabitants say is the image of Shakmonni, or Shamku. Departing from thence on the second of Rajeb, they came on the fifth to Karakoja.650 And certain Kathayans came here on the tenth, who took a list of the names of the ambassadors and all their retinue. On the nineteenth they arrived at the town of Ata-Sufi, where Kha Zadeh Taj'oddin resided, a person descended from the prophet, originally of the city of Tormul, and son-in-law to Amir Fakr'oddin, chief of the Moslems in Kabul651.
634
Astley IV. 621. Forst. Voy. and Disc. 158.
635
I suspect this learned Dutchman has been sometimes quoted in Latin, by the name of Candidius. –E.
636
The capital of Khorassan, or Corassan, in the north-east of Persia, then the residence of Shah Rokh. –Astl.
637
Or Zu'lkaadeh, as pronounced by the Persians, called Dhu'lkaddeh by the Arabians, which is the eleventh month of the Mahometan year. As this year is lunar, the months run through all the seasons, for want of a properly regulated kalendar, or a period like the Julian or Gregorian. To enable the reader to understand the journal, we give the Persian names of the months in their order: 1. Moharram; 2. Safar; 3. Rabiya-al-awal, or Prior; 4, Rabiya-al-Akher, or Latter; 5. Jomada-al– awal; 6. Jomada-al-akher; 7. Rajeb; 8. Shaaban; 9. Ramazan; 10. Shawal; 11. Zu'lkaadeh; 12. Zu'lhejjeh. –Astl.
638
This year began on Thursday, 16th January, 1420. –Astl.
639
Ulug-Beg was the son and successor of Shah-Rokh, and was famous for his astronomical tables. –Astl.
The Kathayans of Ulug-Beg, here mentioned, were probably Chinese astronomers in the service of that prince, sent on the present occasion to ascertain and report the geographical circumstances of the journey. –E.
640
The text here is obscure, as appearing to indicate Kathayan ambassadors going to Kathay. They may have been ambassadors from Yong-lo to Shakh-Rokh, now on their return. –E.
641
Called Asperah by Forster. –E.
642
From this description of the route, and the implied division of empire, it would appear that Shah-Rokh ruled over a very ample portion of the vast conquests of Timur, having under has command the countries of Iran and Touran; or Persia, Chorassan, Balkh, Kharism, Great Bucharia, and Fergaana; even including Samarkand, the imperial residence of Timur. –E.
643
Mr Forster calls this place Pielgutu, and explains the name by the substitution of Palchas with a mark of interrogation as doubtful. The geography of the East is rendered difficult and obscure, by the frequent recurrence of names in different languages, and by a lax orthography. Perhaps Pielgutu or Palchas, may have been situated on the lake Balcash, otherwise named Palkati-nor, and Tengis –E.
644
Otherwise Dagis and Dakgis-Astl.
645
Called Lenger in Forster, who gives, as synonymous, Ab-lenger and Abi– longur; which merely repeat the original name Lenger, with the prefix abi, which signifies water or river. Of this river no mention is made on our maps; but, from the direction of the route, it must have crossed their way somewhere between the Palkati-nor and Turfan, which is the next station mentioned. –E.
646
Called Gurgu by Forster. –E.
647
Fifth son of Shah-Rokh. –Astl.
648
Perhaps the same place called Yulduz, and Yilduz by others, and supposed to be the Chialis of later authors, in Little Bucharia. In the Jesuits maps there is a river called Cheldos, near the Ili, on which this town may have stood. –Astl.
649
This is doubtless a mistake for Tarfan, or Turfan, in little Bucharia; the Arabic F and K differing only by a point. Astl. Turfan, Turkhan, or Farkhaan, is situated in Tenduc or Uiguria, in Lat. 43° N. Long. 85°. SO. E. The snowy mountains crossed in such haste must have been the Alahtag. The cold desert of the tribe of Jel, was probably in the eastern part of Soongria; perhaps the Karang desert, north from Turfan and the Alak mountains. –E.
650
This is supposed to be the same place with Aramuth in other Journals; and to be named Oramchi in the Jesuits map-Astl. Called Kharadztah, Harasliar, Hara-cosa, and Asarlic, by Forster. Now named Asarleak on our best maps. –E.
651
In Forsters edition, this sentence is differently expressed, as follows: "On the nineteenth they came to a town called Naas, or Naar, near which several Zeijids, or descendants of Mahomet, are settled, at a place named Termed". –E.