CHAPTER XIII.

HOW MESSER NICOLAS AND MESSER MAFFEO POLO, ACCOMPANIED BY MARK, TRAVELLED TO THE COURT OF THE GREAT KAAN.

So the Two Brothers, and Mark along with them, proceeded on their way, and journeying on, summer and winter, came at length to the Great Kaan, who was then at a certain rich and great city, called KEMENFU. As to what they met with on the road, whether in going or coming, we shall give no particulars at present, because we are going to tell you all those details in regular order in the after part of this Book. Their journey back to the Kaan occupied a good three years and a half, owing to the bad weather and severe cold that they encountered. And let me tell you in good sooth that when the Great Kaan heard that Messers Nicolas and Maffeo Polo were on their way back, he sent people a journey of full 40 days to meet them; and on this journey, as on their former one, they were honourably entertained upon the road, and supplied with all that they required.

NOTE 1.-The French texts read Clemeinfu, Ramusio Clemenfu. The Pucci MS. guides us to the correct reading, having Chemensu (Kemensu) for Chemenfu. KAIPINGFU, meaning something like "City of Peace," and called by Rashiduddin Kaiminfu (whereby we see that Polo as usual adopted the Persian form of the name), was a city founded in 1256, four years before Kublai's accession, some distance to the north of the Chinese wall. It became Kublai's favourite summer residence, and was styled from 1264 Shangtu or "Upper Court" (see infra, Book I. chap. Ixi.). It was known to the Mongols, apparently by a combination of the two names, as Shangdu Keibung. It appears in D'Anville's map under the name of Djao-Naiman Sumé. Dr. Bushell, who visited Shangtu in 1872, makes it 1103 li (367 miles) by road distance viâ Kalgan from Peking. The busy town of Dolonnúr lies 26 miles S. E. of it, and according to Kiepert's Asia that place is about 180 miles in a direct line north of Peking.

(See Klaproth in J. As. XI. 365; Gaubil, p. 115; Cathay, p. 260; J. R. G. S. vol. xliii.)

CHAPTER XIV.

HOW MESSER NICOLO AND MESSER MAFFEO POLO AND MARCO PRESENTED THEMSELVES BEFORE THE GREAT KAAN.

AND what shall I tell you? when the Two Brothers and Mark had arrived at that great city, they went to the Imperial Palace, and there they found the Sovereign attended by a great company of Barons. So they bent the knee before him, and paid their respects to him, with all possible reverence [prostrating themselves on the ground]. Then the Lord bade them stand up, and treated them with great honour, showing great pleasure at their coming, and asked many questions as to their welfare, and how they had sped. They replied that they had in verity sped well, seeing that they found the Kaan well and safe. Then they presented the credentials and letters which they had received from the Pope, which pleased him right well; and after that they produced the Oil from the Sepulchre, and at that also he was very glad, for he set great store thereby. And next, spying Mark, who was then a young gallant,' he asked who was that in their company?"Sire," said his father, Messer Nicolo, "'tis my son and your liegeman." "Welcome is he too," quoth the Emperor. And why should I make a long story? There was great rejoicing at the Court because of their arrival; and they met with attention and honour from everybody. So there they abode at the Court with the other Barons.

NOTE 1.-"Joenne Bacheler."

NOTE 2.

2

“Sire, il est mon fils et vostre homme." The last word in the sense which gives us the word homage. Thus in the miracle play of Theophilus (13th century), the Devil says to Theophilus :

"Or joing

Tes mains et si devien mes hom.

Theoph. Vez-ci que je vous faz hommage.”

So infra (Book I. ch. xlvii.) Aung Khan is made to say of Chinghiz: "Il est mon homes et mon serf." (See also Bk. II. ch. iv. note.) St. Lewis said of the peace he had made with Henry III.: "Il m'est mout grant honneur en la paix que je foiz au Roy d'Angleterre pour ce qu'il est mon home, ce que n'estoit pas devant." And Joinville says with regard to the king, "Je ne voz faire point de serement, car je n'estoie pas son home" (being a vassal of Champagne). A famous Saturday Reviewer quotes the term applied to a lady: "Eddeva puella homo Stigandi Archiepiscopi.” (Théâtre Français au Moyen Age, p. 145; Joinville, pp. 21, 37; S. R. Sept. 6, 1873, p. 305.)

CHAPTER XV.

HOW THE EMPEROR SENT MARK ON AN EMBASSY OF HIS.

Now it came to pass that Marco, the son of Messer Nicolo, sped wondrously in learning the customs of the Tartars, as well as their language, their manner of writing, and their practice of war; in fact he came in brief space to know several languages, and four sundry written characters. And he was discreet and prudent in every way, insomuch that the Emperor held him in great esteem.' And so when he discerned Mark to have so much sense, and to conduct himself so well and beseemingly, he sent him on an ambassage of his, to a country which was a good six months' journey distant. The young gallant executed his commission well and with discretion. Now he had taken note on several occasions that when the Prince's ambassadors returned from different parts of the world, they were able to tell him about nothing except the business on which they had gone, and that the Prince in consequence held them for no better than fools and dolts, and would say: "I had far liever hearken about the strange things, and the manners of the different countries you have seen, than merely be told of the business you went upon;"-for he took great delight in hearing of the affairs of strange countries. Mark therefore, as he went and returned, took great pains to learn about all kinds

of different matters in the countries which he visited, in order to be able to tell about them to the Great Kaan.2

NOTE 1. The word Emperor stands here for Seigneur.

What the four characters acquired by Marco were is open to discussion. The Chronicle of the Mongol Emperors rendered by Gaubil mentions, as characters used in their Empire, the Uíghúr, the Persian and Arabic, that of the Lamas (Tibetan), that of the Nyuché, introduced by the Kin Dynasty, the Khitán, and the Báshpah character, a syllabic alphabet arranged, on the basis of the Tibetan and Sanskrit letters chiefly, by a learned chief Lama so-called, under the orders of Kublai, and established by edict in 1269 as the official character. Coins bearing this character, and dating from 1308 to 1354, are extant. The forms of the Nyuché and Khitan were devised in imitation of Chinese writing, but are supposed to be syllabic. Of the Khitan but one inscription is known, and no key.

Chinghiz and his first successors used the Uighur, and sometimes the Chinese character. Of the Uighur character we give a specimen in Book IV. It is of Syriac origin, undoubtedly introduced into Eastern Turkestan by the early Nestorian missions, probably in the 8th or 9th century. The oldest known example of this character so applied, the Kudatku Bilik, a didactic poem in Uighur (a branch of Oriental Turkish), dating from A.D. 1069, was published by Prof. Vámbéry in 1870. Vámbéry had a pleasing illustration of the origin of the Uighur character, when he received a visit at Pesth from certain Nestorians of Urumia on a begging tour. On being shown the original MS. of the Kudatku Bilik, they read the character easily, whilst much to their astonishment they could not understand a word of what was written. This Uighur is the basis of the modern Mongol and Manchu characters.

On a remarkable Buddhist monument of the Mongol age (A.D. 1345), of which a cut is given at the end of this volume, at the pass of Nankau, 40 miles from Peking, there is a long invocation inscribed in the Sanskrit, Tibetan, Báshpah, Uighur, Nyuché, and Chinese characters. Mr. Wylie's kindness enables me to present a specimen of this. (And see his papers in J. R. A. S. vol. xvii. p. 331 and N. s. vol. v. p. 14.)

The orders of the Great Kaan are stated to have been published habitually in six languages, viz., Mongol, Uighur, Arabic, Persian, Tangutan (probably Tibetan), and Chinese.

Ghazan Khan of Persia is said to have understood Mongol, Arabic, Persian, something of Kashmiri, of Tibetan, of Chinese, and a little of the Frank tongue (probably French).

The annals of the Ming Dynasty, which succeeded the Mongols in China, mention the establishment in 1407 of a linguistic office for diplomatic purposes. The languages to be studied were Nyuché, Mongol, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Bokharan (Persian ?), Uighur, Burmese, and Siamese.

To these were added by the Manchu dynasty two languages called Papeh and Pehyih, both Shan dialects of the S.W. frontier-see infra, Bk. II. ch. lvi.-lvii., and notes. (Gaubil, p. 148; Gold. Horde, 184; Ilchan. II. 147; Lockhart in J. R. G. S., XXXVI. 152; Koeppen, II. 99.)

Pauthier supposes Mark's four acquisitions to have been BáshpahMongol, Arabic, Uighur, and Chinese. I entirely reject the Chinese. We shall see no reason to believe that he knew either language or character. The other three seem highly probable. The fourth may have been Tibetan. But it is more likely that he counted separately two varieties of the same character (e.g. of the Arabic and Persian) as two "lettres de leur escriptures."

NOTE 2. From the context no doubt Marco's employments were honourable and confidential; but Commissioner would perhaps better express them than Ambassador in the modern sense. The word Ilchi, which was probably in his mind, was applied to a large variety of classes employed on the commissions of Government, as we may see from a passage of Rashiduddin in D'Ohsson, which says that "there were always to be found in every city from one to two hundred Ilchis, who forced the citizens to furnish them with free quarters," &c. III. 404 (see also 485).

CHAPTER XVI.

HOW MARK RETURNED FROM THE MISSION WHEREON HE HAD BEEN SENT.

WHEN Mark returned from his ambassage he presented himself before the Emperor, and after making his report of the business with which he was charged, and its successful accomplishment, he went on to give an account in a pleasant and intelligent manner of all the novelties and strange things that he had seen and heard; insomuch that the Emperor and all such as heard his story were surprised, and said: "If this young man live, he will assuredly come to be a person of great worth and ability." And so from that time forward he was always entitled MESSER MARCO POLO, and thus we shall style him henceforth in this Book of ours, as is but right.

Thereafter Messer Marco abode in the Kaan's employment some 17 years, continually going and coming, hither and thither, on the missions that were entrusted to him

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