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As regards the position of AVAH, Abbott says that a village still stands upon the site, about 16 m. S.S. E. of Sávah. He did not visit it, but took a bearing to it. He was told there was a mound there on which formerly stood a Gueber Castle. At Sávah he could find no trace of Marco Polo's legend. Chardin, in whose time Sávah was not quite so far gone to decay, heard of an alleged tomb of Samuel, at four leagues from the city. This is alluded to by Hamdallah.

Keith Johnstone and Kiepert put Avah some 60 m. W.N.W. of Sávah, on the road between Kazwin and Hamadan. There seems to be some great mistake here.

Friar Odoric puts the locality of the Magi at Kashan, though one version of his Itinerary, perhaps corrected in this, puts it at Saba.

We have no means of fixing the Kala'a Atishparastán. It is probable however that the story was picked up on the homeward journey, and as it seems to be implied that this castle was reached three days after leaving Sávah, I should look for it between Sávah and Abher.

As regards the Legend itself, which shows such a curious mixture of Christian and Parsi elements, it is related some 350 years earlier by Mas'udi: “In the Province of Fars they tell you of a Well called the Well of Fire, near which there was a temple built. When the Messiah was born the King Koresh sent three messengers to him, the first of whom carried a bag of Incense, the second a bag of Myrrh, and the third a bag of Gold. They set out under the guidance of the Star which the king had described to them, arrived in Syria, and found the Messiah with Mary his Mother. This story of the three messengers is related by the Christians with sundry exaggerations; it is also found in the Gospel. Thus, they say that the star appeared to Koresh at the moment of Christ's birth; that it went on when the messengers went on, and stopped when they stopped. More ample particulars will be found in our Historical Annals, where we have given the versions of this legend as current among the Guebers and among the Christians. It will be seen that Mary gave the king's messengers a round loaf, and this, after different adventures, they hid under a rock in the province of Fars. The loaf disappeared underground, and there they dug a well, on which they beheld two columns of fire to start up flaming at the surface; in short, all the details of the legend will be found in our Annals." The Editors say that Mas'udi had carried the story to Fars by mistaking Shiz in Adherbaijan (the Atropatenian Ecbatana of Sir H. Rawlinson) for Shiraz. A rudiment of the same legend is contained in the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy. This says that Mary gave the Magi one of the bands in which the Child was swathed. On their return they cast this into their sacred fire; though wrapt in the flame it remained unhurt.

We may add that there was a Christian tradition that the Star descended into a well between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Gregory of Tours also relates that in a certain well, at Bethlehem, from which Mary had drawn water, the star was sometimes seen, by devout pilgrims who

looked carefully for it, to pass from one side to the other. such as merited the boon could see it.

But only

(See Abbott in J. R. G. S. XXV. 4-6; Assemani, III. pt. 2, 750; Chardin, II. 407; N. et. Ext. II. 465; Dict. de la Perse, 2, 56, 298; Cathay, p. 51; Mas'udi, IV. 80; Greg. Turon. Libri Miraculorum, Paris, 1858, I. 8.)

Several of the fancies that legend has attached to the brief story of the Magi in St. Matthew, such as the royal dignity of the persons; their location, now in Arabia, now (as here) at Saba in Persia, and again (as in Hayton and the Catalan Map) in Tarsia or Eastern Turkestan; the notion that one of them was a Negro, and so on, probably grew out of the arbitrary application of passages in the Old Testament, such as: "Venient legati ex Aegypto: AETHIOPIA praevenit manus ejus Deo" (Ps. lxviii. 31). This produced the Negro who usually is painted as one of the Three. "Reges THARSIS et Insulae munera offerent: Reges ARABUM et SABA dona adducent” (lxxii. 10). This made the Three into kings, and fixed them in Tarsia, Arabia, and Sava. "Mundatio Camelorum operiet te, dromedarii Madian et EPHA: omnes de SABA venient aurum et thus deferentes et laudem Domino annunciantes” (Is. lx. 6). Here were Ava and Sava coupled, as well as the gold and frankincense.

One form of the old Church Legend was that the Three were buried at Sessania Adrumetorum in Arabia, whence the Empress Helena had the bodies conveyed to Constantinople. Thence they were carried to Milan, and from Milan Frederic Barbarossa transferred them to Cologne.

The names given by Polo, Gaspar Melchior and Balthazar, have been accepted from an old date by the Roman Church; but an abundant variety of other names has been assigned to them. Hyde quotes a Syriac writer who calls them Aruphon, Hurmon, and Tachshesh, but says that some call them Gudphorbus, Artachshasht, and Labudo; whilst in Persian they were termed Amad, Zad-Amad, Drust-Amad, i.e. Venit, Cito Venit, Sincerus Venit. Some called them in Greek, Apellius, Amerus, and Damascus, and in Hebrew, Magaloth, Galgalath, and Saracia, but otherwise Ator, Sator and Petatoros! The Armenian Church used the same names as the Roman, but in Chaldee they were Kaghba, Badadilma, Badada Kharida. (Hyde, Rel. Vet. Pers. 382-3; Inchofer ut supra; J. As. ser. 6, IX. 160.)

CHAPTER XV.

OF THE EIGHT KINGDOMS OF PERSIA, AND HOW THEY ARE NAMED.

Now you must know that Persia is a very great country, and contains eight kingdoms. I will tell you the names of them all.

The first kingdom is that at the beginning of Persia, and it is called CASVIN; the second is further to the south, and is called CURDISTAN; the third is called LOR; the fourth [SUOLSTAN]; the fifth ISTANIT; the sixth SERAZY; the seventh SONCARA; the eighth TUNOCAIN, which is at the further extremity of Persia. All these kingdoms lie in a southerly direction except one, to wit, Tunocain; that lies towards the east, and borders on the (country of the) Arbre Sol.1

In this country of Persia there is a great supply of fine horses; and people take them to India for sale, for they are horses of great price, a single one being worth as much of their money as is equal to 200 livres Tournois; some will be more, some less, according to the quality.' Here also are the finest asses in the world, one of them being worth full 30 marks of silver, for they are very large and fast, and acquire a capital amble. Dealers carry their horses to Kisi and Curmosa, two cities on the shores of the Sea of India, and there they meet with merchants who take the horses on to India for sale.

In this country there are many cruel and murderous people, so that no day passes but there is some homicide. among them. Were it not for the Government, which is that of the Tartars of the Levant, they would do great mischief to merchants; and indeed, maugre the Government, they often succeed in doing such mischief. Unless merchants be well armed they run the risk of being murdered, or at least robbed of everything; and it sometimes happens that a whole party perishes in this way when not on their guard. The people are all Saracens, i.e. followers of the Law of Mahommet.'

In the cities there are traders and artizans who live by their labour and crafts, weaving cloths of gold, and silk stuffs of sundry kinds. They have plenty of cotton produced in the country; and abundance of wheat, barley, millet, panick, and wine, with fruit of all kinds.

[Some one may say, "But the Saracens don't drink wine, which is prohibited by their law." The answer is that they gloss their text in this way, that if the wine be boiled, so that a part is dissipated and the rest becomes sweet, they may drink without breach of the commandment; for it is then no longer called wine, the name being changed with the change of flavour.4]

NOTE 1. The following appear to be Polo's Eight Kingdoms:

I. KAZWÍN; then a flourishing city, though I know not why he calls it a kingdom. Persian 'Irák, or the northern portion thereof, seems intended. Previous to Hulaku's invasion Kazwin seems to have been in the hands of the Ismaelites or Assassins.

II. KURDISTAN. I do not understand the difficulties of Marsden, followed by Lazari and Pauthier, which lead them to put forth that Curdistan is not Curdistan but something else. The boundaries of Kurdistan according to Hamdallah were Arabian 'Irak, Khuzistán, Persian 'Irak, Adherbaijan and Diarbekr (Dict. de la P. 480). Persian Kurdistan, in modern as in medieval times, extends south beyond Kirmanshah to the immediate border of Polo's next kingdom, viz. :

III. LÚR or Lúristán. This was divided into two principalities, Great Lúr and Little Lúr, distinctions still existing. The former was ruled by a Dynasty called the Faslúyah Atabegs, which endured from about 1155 to 1424. Their territory lay in the mountainous district immediately west of Ispahan, and extended to the river of Dizful, which parted it from Little Lúr. The stronghold of the Atabegs was the extraordinary hill fort of Mungasht, and they had a residence also at Aidhej or Mal-Amir in the mountains south of Shushan, where Ibn Batuta visited the reigning Prince in 1327. Sir H. Rawlinson has described Mungasht, and Mr. Layard and Baron de Bode have visited other parts, but the country is still very imperfectly known. Little Lúristan lay west of the R. Dizful, extending nearly to the Plain of Babylonia. Its Dynasty called Kurshid existed from the middle of the 12th to the end of the 16th century.

The Lúrs in language and otherwise appear to be akin to the Kurds. They were noted in the Middle Ages for their agility and their dexterity in thieving. The tribes of Little Lúr "do not affect the slightest veneration for Mahommed or the Koran; their only general object of worship is their great Saint Baba Buzurg," and particular disciples regard with reverence little short of adoration holy men looked on as living representatives of the Divinity. (Ilchan. I. 70 seqq.; Rawlinson in J. R. G. S. IX; Layard in Do. XVI. 75, 94; N. et. E. XIII. i. 330; I. B. II. 31; D'Ohsson, IV. 171-2.)

IV. SHÚLISTÁN, best represented by Ramusio's Suolstan, whilst the

old French texts have Cielstan (i.e. Shelstán); the name applied to the country of the Shúls, or Shauls, a people who long occupied a part of Luristan, but were expelled by the Lúrs in the 12th century, and settled in the country between Shiraz and Khuzistan (now that of the Mamaseni, whom Colonel Pelly's information identifies with the Shúls), their central points being Naobanján and the fortress called Kala'a Safed or "White Castle." Ibn Batuta, going from Shiraz to Kazerun, encamped the first day in the country of the Shúls, "a Persian desert tribe which includes some pious persons." (Q. R. p. 385; N. et E. XIII. i. 332-3; Ilch. I. 71 ; J. R. G. S. XIII. Map; I. B. II. 88.)

V. ISPAHAN? The name is in Ramusio Spaan, showing at least that he or some one before him had made this identification. The unusual combination ff in manuscript would be so like the frequent one st that the change from Isfan to Istan would be easy. Another possible explanation is suggested by a passage in Abulfeda, who says that one of the cities which composed Isfahan was called Shahristán. As Shahr by itself signifies "city," it is just possible that Polo might take Istan for a proper name. (See Reiske, Abulf. III. 535.) But why Istanit?

VI. SHÍRÁZ, representing the province of Fars or Persia Proper, of which it has been for ages the chief city. The last dynasty that had reigned in Fars was that of the Salghur Atabegs, founded about the middle of the 12th century. Under Abubakr (1226-1260) this kingdom attained considerable power, embracing Fars, Kirman, the islands of the Gulf and its Arabian shores; and Shiraz then flourished in arts and literature. From about 1262, though a Salghurian princess, married to a son of Hulaku, had the nominal title of Atabeg, the province of Fars was under Mongol administration. (Ilch. passim.)

VII. SHAWÁNKÁRA or Shabánkára. The G. T. has Soucara, but the Crusca gives the true reading Soncara. It is the country of the Shawánkárs, a people coupled with the Shuls and Lurs in medieval Persian history, and like them of Kurd affinities. Their princes, of a family Faslúyah, are spoken of as influential before the Mahomedan conquest, but the name of the people comes prominently forward only during the Mongol era of Persian history. Their country lay to the south of the great salt lake east of Shiraz, and included Niriz and Darabjird, Fassa, Forg, and Tarem. Their capital was I'g or I'j, called also Irej, about 45 m. north of Darab, with a great mountain fortress; it was taken by Hulaku in 1259. The son of the prince was continued in nominal authority with Mongol administrators. In consequence of a rebellion in 1311 the dynasty seems to have been extinguished. A descendant attempted to revive their authority about the middle of the same century. The latest historical mention of the name that I have found is in Abdurrazzák's History of Shah Rukh, under the year H. 807 (1404). (See Jour. As. 3d s. vol. ii. 355.) But a note by Colonel Pelly informs me that the name Shabankara is still applied (1) to the district round the towns of Runiz and Gauristan near Bandar Abbas;

VOL. I.

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