Ins. et B. Let. 1'ere Ser. XI., 1898.) Dr. S. W.
Bushell in two papers (Inscriptions in the Juchen and Allied Scripts,
Actes du XI. Congres Orientalistes, Paris, 1897, 2nd. sect., pp. 11, 35,
and the Hsi Hsia Dynasty of Tangut, their Money and their peculiar
Script, J. China Br. R. A. S., xxx. N.S. No. 2, pp. 142, 160) has also
made a special study of the same subject. The Si Hia writing was adopted
by Yuan Ho in 1036, on which occasion he changed the title of his reign to
Ta Ch'ing, i.e. "Great Good Fortune." Unfortunately, both the late M.
Deveria and Dr. S. W. Bushell have deciphered but few of the Si Hia
characters. - H. C.]
The orders of the Great Kaan are stated to have been published habitually
in six languages, viz., Mongol, Uighur, Arabic, Persian, Tangutan
(Si-Hia), and Chinese. - H. Y. and H. C.
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 the 11th moon of the 5th year Yong-lo (1407)
of the Sse yi kwan, a linguistic office for diplomatic purposes. The
languages to be studied were Niuche, Mongol, Tibetan, Sanskrit, Bokharan
(Persian?) Uighur, Burmese, and Siamese. To these were added by the Manchu
Dynasty two languages called Papeh and Pehyih, both dialects of the
S.W. frontier. (See infra, Bk. II. ch. lvi.-lvii., and notes.) Since 1382,
however, official interpreters had to translate Mongol texts; they were
selected among the Academicians, and their service (which was independent
of the Sse yi kwan when this was created) was under the control of the
Han-lin-yuen. There may have been similar institutions under the Yuen,
but we have no proof of it. At all events, such an office could not then
be called Sse yi kwan (Sse yi, Barbarians from four sides); Niuche
(Niuchen) was taught in Yong-lo's office, but not Manchu. The Sse yi
kwan must not be confounded with the Hui t'ong kwan, the office for the
reception of tributary envoys, to which it was annexed in 1748. (Gaubil,
p. 148; Gold. Horde, 184; Ilchan. II. 147; Lockhart in J. R. G. S.
XXXVI. 152; Koeppen, II. 99; G. Deveria, Hist. du College des
Interpretes de Peking in Melanges Charles de Harlez, pp. 94-102; MS.
Note of Prof. A. Vissiere; The Tangut Script in the Nan-K'ou Pass, by
Dr. S. W. Bushell, China Review, xxiv. II. pp. 65-68.) - H. Y. and H. C.
Pauthier supposes Mark's four acquisitions to have been Bashpah-Mongol,
Arabic, Uighur, and Chinese. I entirely reject the Chinese. Sir H. Yule
adds: "We shall see no reason to believe that he knew either language or
character" [Chinese]. The blunders Polo made in saying that the name of
the city, Suju, signifies in our tongue "Earth" and Kinsay "Heaven" show
he did not know the Chinese characters, but we read in Bk. II. ch.
lxviii.: "And Messer Marco Polo himself, of whom this Book speaks, did
govern this city (Yanju) for three full years, by the order of the Great
Kaan." It seems to me [H. C.] hardly possible that Marco could have for
three years been governor of so important and so Chinese a city as
Yangchau, in the heart of the Empire, without acquiring a knowledge of the
spoken language. - H. C. The other three languages 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" - H. Y. and H. C.
NOTE 2. - [Ramusio here adds: "Ad und citta, detta Carazan," which, as we
shall see, refers to the Yun-nan Province.] - H. C.
NOTE 3. - 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," etc., 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 seventeen
years, continually going and coming, hither and thither, on the missions
that were entrusted to him by the Lord [and sometimes, with the permission
and authority of the Great Kaan, on his own private affairs.] And, as he
knew all the sovereign's ways, like a sensible man he always took much
pains to gather knowledge of anything that would be likely to interest
him, and then on his return to Court he would relate everything in regular
order, and thus the Emperor came to hold him in great love and favour. And
for this reason also he would employ him the oftener on the most weighty
and most distant of his missions.
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