On That Supposition The Smallest
Tablet Specified In The Text Would Weigh 18-1/2 Ozs.
Troy.
I do not know if any gold Paizah has been discovered, but several of
silver have been found in the Russian dominions; one near the Dnieper, and
two in Eastern Siberia. The first of our plates represents one of these,
which was found in the Minusinsk circle of the Government of Yenisei in
1846, and is now in the Asiatic Museum of the Academy of St. Petersburg,
For the sake of better illustration of our text, I have taken the liberty
to represent the tablet as of gold, instead of silver with only the
inscription gilt. The moulded ring inserted in the orifice, to suspend the
plate by, is of iron. On the reverse side the ring bears some Chinese
characters engraved, which are interpreted as meaning "Publication No.
42." The inscription on the plate itself is in the Mongol language and
Baspa character (supra, Prologue, note 1, ch. xv.), and its purport is a
remarkable testimony to the exactness of Marco's account, and almost a
proof of his knowledge of the language and character in which the
inscriptions were engraved. It runs, according to Schmidt's version: "By
the strength of the eternal heaven! May the name of the Khagan be holy!
Who pays him not reverence is to be slain, and must die!" The
inscriptions on the other plates discovered were essentially similar in
meaning. Our second plate shows one of them with the inscription in the
Uighur character.
The superficial dimensions of the Yenisei tablet, as taken from Schmidt's
full-size drawing, are 12.2 in. by 3.65 in. The weight is not given.
In the French texts nothing is said of the size of the tablets. But
Ramusio's copy in the Prologue, where the tables given by Kiacatu are
mentioned (supra, p. 35), says that they were a cubit in length and 5
fingers in breadth, and weighed 3 to 4 marks each, i.e. 24 to 32 ounces.
(Dupre de St. Maur, Essai sur les Monnoies, etc., 1746, p. viii.; also
(on saiga) see Pertz, Script. XVII. 357; Rubruq. 312; Golden
Horde, 219-220, 521; Ilch. II. 166 seqq., 355-356; D'Ohsson, III.
412-413; Q. R. 177-180; Ham. Wassaf, 154, 176; Makrizi, IV. 158;
St. Martin, Mem. sur l'Armenie, II. 137, 169; M. Mas Latrie in
Bibl. de l'Ec. des Chartes, IV. 585 seqq.; J. As. ser. V. tom. xvii.
536 seqq.; Schmidt, ueber eine Mongol. Quadratinschrift, etc., Acad. St.
P., 1847; Russian paper by Grigorieff on same subject, 1846.)
["The History tells us (Liao Shih, Bk. LVII. f. 2) that the official
silver tablets p'ai tzu of the period were 600 in number, about a foot
in length, and that they were engraved with an inscription like the above
['Our imperial order for post horses. Urgent.'] in national characters
(kuo tzu), and that when there was important state business the Emperor
personally handed the tablet to the envoy, which entitled him to demand
horses at the post stations, and to be treated as if he were the Emperor
himself travelling.
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