At the end of ten days journey from Cintigui, we come to the city of Sindinfu; twenty days from thence is Gingui, and four days from thence, towards the south, is Palan-fu in Kathay, returning by the other side of the province. The people are idolaters and burn their dead, but there are also some Christians who have a church. The people use paper money, and are all under the dominion of the great khan. They make cloths of gold and silk, and very fine lawns. Past this city of Palan-fu, which has many cities under its jurisdiction, there runs a fine river, which carries great store of merchandize to Cambalu, by means of many canals made on purpose. Leaving this place, and travelling three days journey towards the south of the province of Kathay, subject to the great khan, is the great city of Ciangu. They are idolaters, who burn their dead, and their money is the mulberry paper coin of the khan. The earth, in the territories of this city, abounds in salt, which is extracted in the following manner: The earth is heaped up like a hill, and large quantities of water are poured on, which extracts the salt, and runs by certain conduits into cauldrons, in which it is boiled up into fine white salt; and this manufacture produces great profit to the people and the great khan, as large quantities are exported for sale to other countries. In this neighbourhood there are large and fine flavoured peaches, one of which weighs two pounds.
Five days journey farther south from Ciangu is the city of Ciangli, likewise in Kathay, between which we pass many cities and castles, all subject to the great khan; and through the middle of this last city of Ciangli, there runs a large river, which is very convenient for the transport of merchandize. Six days journey from thence to the south is the noble kingdom and great city of Tudinfu, which was formerly subject to its own king, but was subdued by the arms of the great khan in 1272. Under its jurisdiction there are twelve famous trading cities. It is most pleasantly situated among gardens and orchards, and is rich in silks. A baron, named Lucanser, who was sent to govern this acquisition by the khan, with an army of 8000 horse, chose to rebel; but was defeated and slain by an army of 100,000 horse sent against him by the khan under two other barons, and the country again reduced to obedience. Seven days journey farther south is the famous city of Singuimatu, to which, on the south, a great river runs, which is divided by the inhabitants into two rivers, one branch of which flows by the east towards Kathay, and the other by the west towards Mangi453. By these rivers or canals innumerable vessels, incredible for their size and wealth, carry vast quantities of merchandize through both of these provinces; and for sixteen days journey to the south from Singuimatu, we meet with many cities and towns, which carry on immense trade. The inhabitants of all these countries are idolaters, and subject to the great khan. You then come to a great river called Caramoran454, which is said to take its rise in the dominions formerly belonging to Umcan, or Prester John, in the north. It is very deep, and carries ships of great burden, and is well stocked with fish. Within one days journey of the sea are the two cities of Coigan-zu and Quan-zu, on opposite sides of the river, the one a great city and the other a small one, where a fleet of 15,000 vessels is kept by the great khan, each fitted for carrying fifteen horses and twenty men. These are always in readiness to carry an army to any of the islands, or to any remote region in case of rebellion455. On passing the great river Caramoran, or Hoang-ho, we enter into the noble kingdom of Mangi: But it must not be supposed that I have described the whole province of Kathay, as I have not spoken of the twentieth part of it; for in passing through this province, I have only mentioned the principal cities on my way, leaving those on both sides, and many intermediate ones to avoid prolixity, and not to set down in writing what I only learned from hearsay.
The kingdom of Mangi is the richest and most famous of all that are to be found in the east. In the year 1269, this kingdom was governed by a king named Fanfur456, who was richer and more powerful than any who had reigned there for an hundred years. Fanfur maintained justice and internal peace in his dominions, so that no one dared to offend his neighbour, or to disturb the peace, from dread of prompt, severe, and impartial justice; insomuch, that the artificers would often leave their shops, filled with valuable commodities, open in the night, yet no one would presume to enter them. Travellers and strangers travelled in safety through his whole dominions by day or night. He was merciful to the poor, and carefully provided for such as were oppressed by poverty or sickness, and every year took charge of 20,000 infants who were deserted by their mothers from poverty, all of whom he bred up till they were able to work at some trade. But in process of time, betaking himself more to pleasures than was fit, he employed his whole time in delights, in the midst of 1000 concubines. His capital was encompassed with ditches full of water; but Fanfur was entirely addicted to the arts of peace, and so beloved of his subjects for his justice and charity, that, trusting to their numbers and attachment, and to the natural strength and resources of the country, both king and people neglected the use of arms, keeping no cavalry in pay, because they feared no one, and believed themselves invincible.
Cublai-khan was of a different disposition from Fanfur, and delighted in war and conquest; and having resolved upon making a conquest of the kingdom of Mangi, he levied a great army of horse and foot for that purpose, over which he placed a general named Chinsan-Baian457. He accordingly marched with his army, accompanied by a fleet, into the province of Mangi, and summoned the city of Coiganzu458 to surrender to the authority of the great khan. On this being refused, he departed without making any assault, to the second, the third, and the fourth city, all of which he summoned, and on their refusal, marched on without siege or assault. But receiving the same answer from the fifth, he assaulted it with great courage, and having taken it by storm, he massacred the whole inhabitants, without sparing any of either sex, or of any age or condition. This severe military execution so terrified the other cities, that they all immediately surrendered. On this successful commencement being reported to the khan, he sent a new army to reinforce Chinsan-Baian, whose army was now much diminished by the garrisons he had to leave in the conquered cities. With his army thus reinforced, Chinsan marched against Quinsai459 the capital city of the kingdom of Mangi, in which Fanfur resided. He was much terrified at this formidable invasion, and having never seen any war, he fled with all his wealth on board a great fleet which he had prepared, retiring to certain impregnable islands in the ocean460, committing the custody of his capital to his wife, whom he desired to defend it as well as she could, as being a woman, she need not fear being put to death if she were made prisoner. It may be observed, that Fanfur had been told by his diviners, that his kingdom would never be taken from him except by one who had an hundred eyes; and this being known to the queen, she was in hopes or preserving the city in all extremities, thinking it impossible for any one man to have an hundred eyes. But learning that the name of the commander of the Tartars had that signification, she sent for him and delivered up the city, believing him to be the person indicated by the astrologers, and to whom destiny had predetermined the conquest of the city and kingdom.461 She was sent to the court of the great khan, where she was most honourably received, and entertained as became her former dignity. After the surrender of the capital, the citizens and inhabitants of the whole province yielded to the obedience of the great khan462.
453
Kathay and Mangi, as formerly mentioned, are Northern and Southern China, so that the direction of these rivers ought perhaps to have been described as north and south, instead of east and west. About seventy miles from the mouth of the Yellow river, or Hoang-ho, there is a town called Tsingo, near which a canal runs to the north, communicating with the river on which Pekin is situated, and another canal, running far south into Mangi or Southern China. Tsingo, though now an inferior town, may have been formerly Singui-matu, and a place of great importance. –E.
454
Caramoran or Hora-moran, is the Hoang-ho, or Yellow river; and it must be allowed, that the distance which is placed in the text, between Singui-matu and this river, is quite hostile to the idea mentioned in the preceding note, of Tsingo and Singui-matu being the same place. The only other situation in all China which accords with the two canals, or rivers, communicating both with Kathay and Mangi, is Yotcheou on the Tong-ting-hou lake, which is on the Kian-ku river, and at a sufficient distance from the Hoang-ho to agree with the text. In the absence of all tolerable certainty, conjecture seems allowable. –E.
455
There are no Chinese cities, in our maps, that, in the least appearance of sound, correspond with the names of these towns or cities near the mouth of the Hoang-ho. Hoain-gin is the only large city near its mouth, and that is not on its banks. All therefore that can be said, is, that the two cities in the text must have stood on opposite sides of the Hoang-ho in the days of Marco Polo. –E.
456
Called Tou-tsong by the Chinese historians, the fifteenth emperor of the nineteenth dynasty, who succeeded to the throne in the year 1264. –Harris.
457
The name of this general is said to have signified an hundred eyes; doubtless a Tartar title, denoting his vigilance and foresight. By the Chinese historians, this general is named Pe-yen; which may have the same signification. These historians attribute the conquest of Mangi, or Southern China, to the indolence, debauchery, and extreme love of pleasure of this emperor, whom they name Tou-Tsong. –Harris.
458
The names of all places and provinces in the travels of Marco Polo, are either so disguised by Tartar appellations, or so corrupted, that they cannot be referred with any certainty to the Chinese names upon our maps. Coiganzu, described afterwards as the first city in the south-east of Mangi in going from Kathay, may possibly be Hoingan-fou, which answers to that situation. The termination fou is merely city; and other terminations are used by the Chinese, as tcheou and others, to denote the rank or class in which they are placed, in regard to the subordination of their governors and tribunals, which will be explained in that part of our work which is appropriated to the empire of China. –E.
459
Or Guinsai, to be afterwards described. –E.
460
It does not appear where these islands were, situated; whether Hainan or Formosa, properly Tai-ouan, or Tai-wan, or the islands in the bay of Canton. –E.
461
These sagacious diviners must have been well acquainted with the military energy of the Tartar government, and the abject weakness of their own; and certainly knew, from their brethren in Kathay, the significant name of the Tartar general; on which foundation, they constructed the enigma of their prophecy, which, like many others, contributed towards its own accomplishment. –E.
462
About a year after the surrender of his capital, Tou-Tsong died, leaving three sons, who all perished in a few years afterwards. The eldest was made prisoner, and died in captivity in Tartary. The second died of a consumption at Canton, where he had taken refuge at eleven years of age. The third, named Ti-Ping, after all the country was seized by the Tartars, was carried on board the Chinese fleet, which was pursued and brought to action by a fleet which the Tartars had fitted out for the purpose. When the Chinese lord, who had the charge of the infant emperor, saw the vessel in which he was embarked surrounded by the Tartars, he took the young prince in his arms and jumped with him into the sea. One considerable squadron of the Chinese fleet forced a passage through that of the Tartars, but was afterwards entirely destroyed in a tempest. –Harris.